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M Marks the Spot: Star Trek's Planet Classifications, Explained

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The bright, optimistic future of Star Trek  entailed regular scientific exploration, which was part of Starfleet’s mantra. That included an entire lexicon of terms, to better sell the show’s setting and to provide the sheen of rigor to its various dramatic plots. Planets were grouped according to class – each one with different features and details – which became a part of the world-building and continued to be used in subsequent Star Trek series. The most enticing was Class M , which was a planet capable of sustaining humanoid life. That meant new alien beings, new cultures and civilizations, or even just a suitable spot to set up a colony.

But class M wasn’t the only type of planet in the Star Trek lexicon. Nine others were mentioned at one point or another during the series, each with a letter demarking their status. A list of all classifications follows, along with a brief description of their conditions.

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Class D: Barren Rock

Class D referred to a planet or planetoid completely devoid of atmosphere. The most prominent example in canon was Regula, the planetoid from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan . Spock described it as “a great rock in space,” composed of unremarkable elements and of little note beyond that.

Class H: Uninhabitable

The class H designation in Star Trek canon was vague, though largely uninhabitable by most humanoid species. One exception was the Sheliak, an “R-3” lifeform consisting of what appeared to be sentient blobs. They laid claim over several Class H worlds, which the Federation ceded to them as part of a treaty. However, a class H planet named Tau Cygna V was inhabited by human colonists, provoking a diplomatic incident with the Sheliak that the Enterprise-D resolved in Star Trek: the Next Generation Season 3, Episode 2, “The Ensigns of Command.”

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Class J: Gas Giant

Class J was designated a manner of gas giant, akin to Jupiter. They are uninhabitable by humanoid life forms though their varying layers of atmosphere could conceivably carry life of a non-humanoid sort. The most prominent onscreen appearance came in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Season 4, Episode 7, “Starship Down.” The Defiant engaged in a game of cat-and-mouse with the Jem’hadar in the atmosphere of a remote planet fitting the classification.

Class K: Habitable with Modifications

A class K planet was deemed habitable in many ways, but with surface conditions too harsh to support humanoid life. That could include anything from extreme temperatures to lack of a breathable atmosphere. People could live on such worlds with help from technological devices such as pressurized air domes or underground structures, but exposure to the surface without protective gear would be lethal. The Original Series Season 2, Episode 12, “I, Mudd” was set on a class K planet, beneath a dome controlled by androids where Harry Mudd set himself up as king.

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Class L: Marginally Habitable

Class L planets held all of the components suitable for human life, and could often support such life for extended periods of time. They are usually quite barren, though some contain arable land and others are able to support colonies of hundreds of thousands of people. Class L planets are mentioned regularly throughout the franchise, notably in multiple episodes of Star Trek: Voyager .

Class M: Habitable

The vast majority of Star Trek’s alien worlds are class M, featuring a sustainable oxygen atmosphere, viable ecology and other Earth-like qualities. That allows all manner of life to develop on them and provides a convenient location for franchise's stories. Most civilized worlds in the Star Trek universe are class M, including Earth, Vulcan, Qo’noS and Andoria -- though Andoria is technically a moon. The “M” stands for “Minshara,” a Vulcan term used in Star Trek: Enterprise , though none of the other planetary classes had in-canon designations beyond the letters.

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Classes N and R: Habitable With Unknown Modifiers

Both class N and class R planets are deemed habitable, though they differ from Class M planets in a manner that the Star Trek canon has yet to lay out. In both cases, their respective atmospheres are sensitive to specific types of explosives. Beyond that, their properties are unknown. Both were mentioned for the first time in The Next Generation Season 4, Episode 17, “Night Terrors.”

Class T: Gas Giant

A class T is a gas giant, similar to a class J. As with classes N and R, there is no current in-canon explanation for the differences between the two. Class T planets have thus far only been mentioned once in the franchise: Voyager Season 6, Episode 20, “Good Shepherd.” The Delta flyer encounters one bearing rings, though it’s unknown if those are the distinguishing factor for the class or not.

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Class Y: Demon Planet

Class Y planets were designated “demon planets” due to their overtly toxic and dangerous atmospheres, and for their often hellish surface appearance. That could include surface temperatures higher than 500 degrees Kelvin and radiation discharges that were actively harmful to humanoid life. Its most notable appearance came in Voyager Season 4, Episode 24, “Demon,” which used a class Y planet as its primary focus.

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Star trek's 4 quadrants & galaxy explained.

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Most of the action in Star Trek takes place in the real-world Milky Way Galaxy which is roughly divided into four quadrants, named after the first four letters of the Greek alphabet: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta. These are the galactic regions that include significant planets like Vulcan, Qo'noS, and of course, Earth. While Gamma and Delta still bear planets with ominous origins, the Alpha and Beta Quadrants are perhaps touched upon the most within the Star Trek mythos. Despite this common division, The Next Generation also referred to a new quadrant known as Morgana. But not much is known about this certain quadrant as it is not mentioned any further.

Even beyond the Quadrants, ardent Star Trek fans can spot the Galactic Barrier and several other celestial objects that are present in other galaxies like the Andromeda Galaxy (yet another real-world phenomenon) that are still yet to be explored more by the franchise's protagonists. While most of these galactic quadrants can be seen as astronomical phenomena rooted in scientific explanation, the mythos can also incorporate near-godly beings like the Sha Ka Ree in regions such as the so-called "Great Barrier." The two Barriers carry within them such heavenly mysteries that deserve explanations of their own.

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Alpha Quadrant

The Star Trek galaxy explained that the Alpha Quadrant contains more than 60 home worlds, and this includes Captain Kirk's home planet Earth itself (which Trekkers would call Terra or Sol III). Other major planets include the Tellarite native planet Tellar Prime, Trill, which houses both the eponymous humanoid species and the non-humanoid Trill symbionts, and Betazed, which is inhabited by the Betazoids, a humanoid species that boasts warp-capable space vessels. Even though the majority of territories under the Klingon Empire and Romulan Star Empire fall in the Beta Quadrant, the two forces join the United Federation of Planets and the Cardassian Union to constitute the four great powers in the Alpha Quadrant in the late 24th century.

Beta Quadrant

The Star Trek galaxy explained that apart from the Romulans and the different versions of the Klingons , the Beta Quadrant's highlight is Vulcan, the native planet of Spock and other members of the Vulcan species. Multiple Star Trek encyclopedias suggest that Vulcan is located in a Sector of the same name within the Beta Quadrant. The 2002 publication Star Trek Charts also estimates Vulcan's exact position to be somewhere in the 40 Eridani star system that really exists 16.3 light years from Earth's Sun. Much like Spock, the inhabitants of Vulcan can be identified with their raised eyebrows and pointy ears. Mostly devoid of emotions, the Vulcans are known for leading a life on the basis of logic and reasoning.

The Klingon homeworld Qo'noS and the Romulan Empire's native planet Romulus also fall under this galactic quadrant. The former has a chaotic weather system with frequent thunderstorms and a rocky landscape characterized by numerous dormant volcanoes and caves. The native warrior species of Klingon are bound by their martial traditions and value honor in combat. As for Romulus, the planet served as the second home for Romulans ever since they migrated from Vulcan. The biological cousins of the Vulcans, they had to move back to their original homeworld after Romulus' sun exploded in 2387. According to The Next Generation , Risa is also a part of this quadrant. Known as the pleasure planet, Risa is known for its sexually liberated culture.

Gamma Quadrant

The Star Trek galaxy explained that the Gamma quadrant includes several Star Trek planets such as Brax, Yadera, Meridian, and others. As seen in Deep Space Nine , the Quadrant also houses the Dominion, an aggressive ensemble of several alien species commanded by the shape-shifting Changelings (AKA the Founders). Several territories of the quadrant are under the Founders' control even though they have had only two home worlds. The first home world of the Founders was a rogue planet that housed the Founders who were, at that time, escaping prosecution from the "solids" (how they referred to non-shape shifters). By 2372, the Founders shifted to a second home world.

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Delta Quadrant

The Star Trek galaxy explained that Star Trek: First Contact confirms the origin of the Borgs from Delta but doesn't name their home planet. This is the case for many other species of Delta, a quadrant that is relatively unexplored by the United Federation. Only Voyager offers the most details about the planets within the quadrant. Delta is also known as the domain of antagonistic species like the Borgs, the Kazon, and the Vidiians. The cybernetic Borgs are mostly linked through a hive mind known as the Collective. As for the Kazon, they are nomadic in nature which makes it difficult to trace their planet. Vidiians are similarly migratory and sport-scarred faces as a result of the terrible Phage pandemic.

The Galactic Barrier

The Star Trek galaxy explained in the original series what is known as Star Trek 's Galactic Barrier . In the subsequent years, Trekkers have called it by many names ranging from Great Barrier to the Energy Barrier, but there is still much debate and discussion regarding the origin of this energy field that surrounds the Milky Way Galaxy. The origins behind its creation are still hotly debated so it is uncertain whether the Galactic Barrier was created by a natural process or by artificial means. Most of the conventional spaceships that have tried crossing this barrier in the Star Trek universe have often been destroyed with the crew even gaining psychoactive traits while nearing the barrier.

The Andromeda Galaxy

Progressive exploration of the Star Trek galaxy explained that the Milky Way Galaxy is definitely not the final frontier , as several other galaxies lie beyond it, such as the Andromeda Galaxy. This serves as a home for the planet Kelva, the capital of the Kelvan Empire. The Kelvans are highly intelligent shapeshifters. Because of their intellectual superiority, the Kelvans feel that it is their duty to rule over other species. The same galaxy also includes the humanoid species simply known as the Makers, creators of service robots and outposts in both the Andromeda and Milky Way Galaxy. The outposts were a residential necessity given how a supernova had destroyed their homeworld.

The Extragalactic Species

The Star Trek galaxy explained that the spanning areas of planets and species that border Star Trek 's Galactic Barrier from the galaxies beyond the Milky Way are still vague in Star Trek canon. Still, some information has been obtained on a few humanoid and non-humanoid extragalactic species. Species 10-C is a major case in point. A highly-advanced non-humanoid race with members much larger than humans, the species is responsible for creating the heavily destructive Dark Matter Anomaly. With their bodies adapted to float in gas layers, Species 10-C belong to a homeworld near the Galactic Barrier. Other such examples of extragalactic species include the "space amoeba" Nacene, the physically fragile Ornithoid, and immortal races like the Q and the Douwd.

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The Center Of The Galaxy

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier reveals the presence of the mythological planet Sha Ka Ree right at the center of the galaxy that doesn't fall under any quadrant. An equivalent of the concept of heaven, Sha Ka Ree is regarded in Vulcan mythology as the realm of all creation. But owing to humankind's fear of exploring the unknown and the second Galactic Barrier, the exact physical nature remains unexplored and is regarded as a mythical entity. It goes to prove how the mysteries of Star Trek 's chief galaxy don't just go beyond its exterior but its very core too.

Multiple Alternate Realities And Timelines

Not only is there several quadrants, but the Star Trek galaxy explained that there are also several alternate timelines in the franchise's world. In the Paramount+ series Picard , there is an alternate reality that completely rewrites Star Trek's history . The movies, from the original series to the Next Generation, take place in what is known as the Prime Universe. The J.J. Abrams movies take place in what is known as the Kelvin Timeline.

Abrams showed this in his movies by having the Kelvin Timeline Spock meet a Spock from a different timeline. This allowed Star Trek to move on with any story it wanted to tell by explaining the characters are from different timelines with new and fresh histories. There is also a Mirror Universe, an alternate timeline ruled by the fascist Terran Empire instead of the Federation. With so many quadrants, they all likely ended up very different in each timeline, making the Star Trek stories endless.

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Planetary Classification

From star trek: theurgy wiki.

A planet is a celestial body in orbit around a star or stellar remnants, that has sufficient mass for self-gravity and is nearly spherical in shape. A planet must not share its orbital region with other bodies of significant size (except for its own satellites), and must be below the threshold for thermonuclear fusion of deuterium.

If a celestial body meets those requirements, it is considered a planet; at that point, the planet is further classified by its atmosphere and surface conditions into one of twenty-two categories.

Class A - Geothermal

Class A planets are very small, barren worlds rife with volcanic activity. This activity traps carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and keeps temperatures on Class A planets very hot, no matter the location in a star system. When the volcanic activity ceases, the planet "dies" and is then considered a Class C planet.

Class B - Geomorteus

Class B planets are generally small worlds located within a star system's Hot Zone. Highly unsuited for humanoid life, Class B planets have thin atmospheres composed primarily of helium and sodium. The surface is molten and highly unstable; temperatures range from 450° in the daylight, to nearly -200° at night. No life forms have ever been observed on Class B planetoids.

Class C - Geoinactive

When all volcanic activity on a Class A planet ceases, it is considered Class C . Essentially dead, these small worlds have cold, barren surfaces and possess no geological activity.

Class D - Dwarf

Also known as Plutonian objects, these tiny worlds are composed primarily of ice and are generally not considered true planets. Many moons and asteroids are considered Class D , as are the larger objects in a star system's Kuiper Belt. Most are not suitable for humanoid life, though many can be colonized via pressure domes.

Class E - Geoplastic

Class E planets represent the earliest stage in the evolution of a habitable planet. The core and crust is completely molten, making the planets susceptible to solar winds and radiation and subject to extremely high surface temperatures. The atmosphere is very thin, composed of hydrogen and helium. As the surface cools, the core and crust begin to harden, and the planet evolves into a Class F world.

Class F - Geometallic

A Class E planet makes the transition to Class F once the crust and core have begun to harden. Volcanic activity is also commonplace on Class F worlds; the steam expelled from volcanic eruptions eventually condenses into water, giving rise to shallow seas in which simple bacteria thrive. When the planet's core is sufficiently cool, the volcanic activity ceases and the planet is considered Class G.

Class G - Geocrystalline

After the core of a Class F planet is sufficiently cool, volcanic activity lessens and the planet is considered Class G . Oxygen and nitrogen are present in some abundance in the atmosphere, giving rise to increasingly complex organisms such as primitive vegetation like algae, and animals similar to sponges and jellyfish. As the surface cools, a Class G planet can evolve into a Class H, K, L, M, N, O, or P class world.

Class H - Desert

A planet is considered Class H if less than 20% of its surface is water. Though many Class H worlds are covered in sand, it is not required to be considered a desert; it must, however, receive little in the way of precipitation. Drought-resistant plants and animals are common on Class H worlds, and many are inhabited by humanoid populations. Most Class H worlds are hot and arid, but conditions can vary greatly.

Class I - Ice Giant (Uranian)

Also known as Uranian planets, these gaseous giants have vastly different compositions from other giant worlds; the core is mostly rock and ice surrounded by a tenuous layers of methane, water, and ammonia. Additionally, the magnetic field is sharply inclined to the axis of rotation. Class I planets typically form on the fringe of a star system.

Class J - Gas Giant (Jovian)

Class J planets are massive spheres of liquid and gaseous hydrogen, with small cores of metallic hydrogen. Their atmospheres are extremely turbulent, with wind speeds in the most severe storms reaching 600 kph. Many Class J planets also possess impressive ring systems, composed primarily of rock, dust, and ice. They form in the Cold Zone of a star system, though typically much closer than Class I planets.

Class K - Adaptable

Though similar in appearance to Class H worlds, Class K planets lack the robust atmosphere of their desert counterparts. Though rare, primitive single-celled organisms have been known to exist, though more complex life never evolves. Humanoid colonization is, however, possible through the use of pressure domes and in some cases, terraforming.

Class L - Marginal

Class L planets are typically rocky, forested worlds devoid of animal life. They are, however, well-suited for humanoid colonization and are prime candidates for terraforming. Water is typically scarce, and if less than 20% of the surface is covered in water, the planet is considered Class H.

Class M - Terrestrial

Class M planets are robust and varied worlds composed primarily of silicate rocks, and are highly suited for humanoid life. To be considered Class M, between 20% and 80% of the surface must be covered in water; it must have a breathable oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere and temperate climate.

Class N - Reducing

Though frequently found in the Ecosphere, Class N planets are not conducive to life. The terrain is barren, with surface temperatures in excess of 500° and an atmospheric pressure more than 90 times that of a Class-M world. Additionally, the atmosphere is very dense and composed of carbon dioxide; water exists only in the form of thick,vaporous clouds that shroud most of the planet.

Class O - Pelagic

Any planet with more than 80% of the surface covered in water is considered Class O . These worlds are usually very warm and possess vast cetacean populations in addition to tropical vegetation and animal life. Though rare, humanoid populations have also formed on Class O planets.

Class P - Glaciated

Any planet whose surface is more than 80% frozen is considered Class P . These glaciated worlds are typically very cold, with temperatures rarely exceeding the freezing point. Though not prime conditions for life, hearty plants and animals are not uncommon, and some species, such as the Aenar and the Andorians , have evolved on Class P worlds.

Class Q - Variable

These rare planetoids typically develop with a highly eccentric orbit, or near stars with a variable output. As such, conditions on the planet's surface are widely varied. Deserts and rain forests exist within a few kilometers of each other, while glaciers can simultaneously lie very near the equator. Given the constant instability, is virtually impossible for life to exist on Class-Q worlds

Class R - Rogue

A Class R planet usually forms within a star system, but at some point in its evolution, the planet is expelled, likely the result of a catastrophic asteroid impact. The shift radically changes the planet's evolution; many planets merely die, but geologically active planets can sustain a habitable surface via volcanic outgassing and geothermal venting.

Class S - Gas Supergiant

Aside from their immense size, Class S planets are very similar to their Class J counterparts, with liquid metallic hydrogen cores surrounded by a hydrogen and helium atmosphere.

Class U - Gas Ultragiant

Class U planets represent the upper limits of planetary masses. Most exist within a star system's Cold Zone and are very similar to Class S and J planets. If they are sufficiently massive (13 times more massive than Jupiter), deuterium ignites nuclear fusion within the core, and the planet becomes a red dwarf star, creating a binary star system.

Class X - Chthonian

Class X planets are the result of a failed Class T planet in a star system's Hot Zone. Instead of becoming a gas giant or red dwarf star, a Class X planet was stripped of its hydrogen/helium atmosphere. The result is a small, barren world similar to a Class B planet, but with no atmosphere and an extremely dense, metal-rich core.

Class Y - Demon

Perhaps the most environmentally unfriendly planets in the galaxy, Class Y planets are toxic to life in every way imaginable. The atmosphere is saturated with toxic radiation, temperatures are extreme, and atmospheric storms are amongst the most severe in the galaxy, with winds in excess of 500 kph.

Disclaimer Notice

Page used with permission of USS Wolff CO - granted Nov 1, 2016 Images by Chris Adamek and used with permission from http://sttff.net/

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Star Trek : Planetary Classification

List of Star Trek planets (A–B)

The fictional universe of the Star Trek canon , which evolved out of the 1966–69 TV series Star Trek , is a vast complex of planets, organizations, and peoples that together comprise an example of the science fiction practice of worldbuilding .

Star Trek is an American media franchise based on the science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry. The first television series, simply called Star Trek and now referred to as " The Original Series ", debuted in 1966 and aired for three seasons on NBC. It followed the interstellar adventures of Captain James T. Kirk and his crew aboard the starship USS Enterprise , a space exploration vessel built by the United Federation of Planets in the 23rd century. The Star Trek canon includes The Original Series , an animated series, five spin-off television series, the film franchise, and further adaptations in several media.

Star Trek is an American science-fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry that follows the adventures of the starship USS  Enterprise   (NCC-1701) and its crew. It later acquired the retronym of Star Trek: The Original Series ( TOS ) to distinguish the show within the media franchise that it began.

Science fiction is a genre of speculative fiction that has been called the "literature of ideas". It typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, time travel, parallel universes, fictional worlds, space exploration, and extraterrestrial life. It often explores the potential consequences of scientific innovations.

• Aaamazzara – Homeworld of the Aaamazzarite species. [1]
• Acamar III – Homeworld of the humanoid Acamarians, who finally reunited the marauding Gatherers into their world's mainstream with Capt. Picard's help in 2366. [2]
• Achrady VII – Site of a conference supposedly attended by Lwaxana Troi before she changed her plans to visit Enterprise -D. This is likely a ruse by Deanna Troi to get Capt. Picard off-ship for a vacation. [3]
• Adarak Prime – Planet in Cardassian space and location of a weapons depot. [4]
• Adelphous IV – Destination of the USS Enterprise -D at the time Worf handed over the conn to Data for the night watch after O'Brien's wedding in 2368. [5]
• Adigeon Prime – Planet where young Julian Bashir was genetically modified by his parents to enhance his mental and physical skills. [6]
• Agaron – Planet whose government was allied to Vulcan in the 22nd century.
• Ajilon Prime – Lone Class-M planet of Ajilon in the disputed Archanis sector, three days' warp from Deep Space Nine , and home to a Federation colony. Half the residents were trapped after Klingons captured two settlements in the northern hemisphere. Kalanda's besieged hospital was located at one end of a peninsula near a Starfleet base at Tananda Bay. [7]
• Akaali homeworld – The third planet of the Omega Sagittarii star system. Minshara-class homeworld of the Akaali species, visited by the Enterprise NX-01 in 2151. [8]
• Akritiri – Delta Quadrant planet with a fascist police state that maintained a prison satellite in 2373. [9]
• Alastria – A Delta Quadrant planet with a binary star about 40,000 light-years from Sikaris, accessed via the spatial trajector. [10]
• Aldea – A supposedly mythical world in the Epsilon Mynos system whose inhabitants constructed a planet-wide cloaking device to hide their planet from marauders. The cloak effect deteriorated the ozone layer and, over time, rendered the Aldeans sterile with radiation poisoning. [11]
• Aldebaran III – Third planet in the Aldebaran system; a longtime Federation member planet on which Janet and Theodore Wallace performed experiments using carbohydrate compounds to slow the aging of plants. [12] It is the location of the Aldebaran Music School. [13] Grand Nagus Zek's nephew Belongo was once detained on Aldebaran III by Starfleet. [14] Dr. Ira Graves, who attempted to cheat death by uploading his consciousness into Lt. Cmdr. Data, wanted to flee to a location in the Aldebaran system, so he could live on with his love, Kareen Brianon. [15] The Aldebaran system is the home of a particularly tight-mouthed creature called the Aldebaran Shellmouth. [16] Scott and Picard share a bottle of Aldebaran whiskey. [17]
• Alderaan – In 2135, HMS New Zealand was on a diplomatic mission to Alderaan. [18] The Bajoran criminal Ibudan, chartered a space flight out of Alderaan. [19]
• Alfa 177 – Class-M planet geo-surveyed by the USS Enterprise NCC-1701 on stardate 1672.1, when a transporter malfunction trapped Lt. Sulu's landing party on the surface overnight during freezing cold that left some suffering severe frostbite. [20]
• Algeron IV – Destination of the Enterprise -D after leaving Relva VII in 2364. It is near the Romulan Star Empire and the namesake of the Romulan-Federation "Treaty of Algeron" which banned the UFP from developing cloaking technology. [21]
• Alondra – an uninhabited planet in the remote Federation system of Pallas 14. It was engulfed by a matter-energy cloud on star date 5371. [22]
• Alpha III – Planet where a code of law ethics known as the "Statues of Alpha III" were written. [23]
• Alpha Carinae II – Class-M planet on which Dr. Daystrom's M-5 computer was tested in 2268. [24] Note: In Bayer-system nomenclature, Alpha Carinae is the technical catalog name for Canopus . [ citation needed ]
• Alpha Carinae V – The home planet of the Drella, an entity that absorbs in love it senses around it. [25]
• Alpha Centauri – Alpha Centauri is the closest inhabitable world to Earth and was thus one of the earliest planets to be colonized by Humans. In the late 22nd century, Earth-born Zephram Cochrane took up residence on Alpha Centauri and lived there, in retirement, until his mysterious disappearance.
• Alpha Cygnus IX – Ninth planet of Alpha Cygni , the classical Bayer-format name for the star more commonly known as Deneb . It lends its name to an historic yet otherwise unspecified treaty negotiated by Ambassador Sarek . [26]
• Alpha Eridani II – Planet where the Redjac entity may have been responsible for various murders in the city of Heliopolis. [25] Note: In Bayer-system nomenclature, Alpha Eridani is the technical catalog name for Achernar .
• Alpha Laputa IV – Planet on which the USS Zhukov makes cultural observations. [27]
• Alpha Leonis system – The Enterprise -D is ordered to take medical supplies from Starbase 343 to an unspecified planet in the Alpha Leonis system. [2] Note: In Bayer-system nomenclature, Alpha Leonis is the technical catalog name for Regulus .
• Alpha Majoris I – Short form for the first planet orbiting Alpha Ursae Majoris . Homeworld of a lifeform known as the Mellitus, which is gaseous in transit but becomes solid when still. [25] Note: In Bayer-system nomenclature, Alpha Ursae Majoris is the technical catalog name for Dubhe . [ citation needed ]
• Alpha Omicron VII – A Jupiter-like gas giant where a large space-faring alien was found and unintentionally killed. It was discovered that the alien was pregnant and its baby was birthed post-mortem. The baby was then reunited with other adults. [28]
• Alpha Onias III – A barren yet light blue Class-M planet with hazy clouds, considered uninhabited until Barash's species was discovered there in 2367. One large cavern 2   km below the surface contains stalactites, stalagmites, and volcanic gases including methane, sulfur dioxide and hydrogen sulfide. [29]
• Alpha Proxima II – One of several planets where female residents were brutally stabbed to death in the style of Jack the Ripper . A lifeform that fed off terror and fear was responsible. [25]
• Alpha V – An Earth colony that was home to some of Charles Evans' relatives in 2266. [30]
• Alpha-441 – Planetoid which was home to a Maquis munitions base in or near the Demilitarized Zone. It was the original programmed target of the Cardassian Dreadnought missile. [31]
• Alsaurian homeworld – Inhabited Delta Quadrant planet ruled by the Mokra Order, a military dictatorship suppressing its Alsaurian population while claiming to be helping its self-defense. [ citation needed ]
• Altair III – Third planet located in the Alpha Aquilae star system; where Lt. Cmdr. Riker refused to let his commanding officer on the USS Hood , Captain Robert DeSoto, beam down due to a potentially dangerous situation. [32] [33] The Hood transported Tam Elbrun to the Enterprise -D after DeSoto had communicated with by-then CDR Will Riker.
• Altair IV – Fourth planet located in the Alpha Aquilae star system; LT Darien Wallace was born on Altair IV. [34] In 2371, Dr. Henri Roget, of the Central Hospital of Altair IV, was awarded the prestigious Carrington Award for his work in medicine. [35]
• Altair VI – Center of the Altair system, the planet was recovering from a longtime intersystem war when the USS Enterprise was ordered to attend its new president's inauguration ceremony in 2267. [16] In the Kobayashi Maru scenario, the ship was nineteen periods out of Altair VI. [36] (Inspired the name of the Altair 8800 .) [ citation needed ]
• Altamid – A Class-M planet within the Necro Cloud Nebula, beyond the edge of Federation space. In 2164, the USS Franklin crash-landed on Altamid, where Captain Balthazar Edison used abandoned technology left by the extinct natives to survive, mutating in the process and becoming known as Krall. Krall woould later launch an attack on the Federation from the planet in the Kelvin Timeline. [37] [ circular reference ]
• Althos IV – Homeworld of the Bzzit Khaht species. [38]
• Alture VII – Planet whose protein baths and meditation chambers were simulated by Quark's holosuite. Dr. Crusher wanted to try the program when the Enterprise -D visited Deep Space 9 in 2369. [39]
• Amargosa – System where the Amargosa Observatory was located. In 2371, Dr. Tolian Soren used a trilithium missile to destroy the Amargosa star in an attempt to redirect the Nexus Energy Ribbon. [40]
• "Amerind" homeworld – A Class-M planet, otherwise unnamed, located in a dense asteroid belt and home to a colony of Native American Indians that were transported there from Earth by an ancient race known as the Preservers centuries ago. The planet, first surveyed by the USS Enterprise NCC-1701 in 2269, was protected from the asteroids by a defense shield obelisk created by the Preservers. [41]
• Amleth Prime – Location of a Cardassian base in the Amleth Nebula. The nebula's emissions rendered cloaking devices inoperable making a sneak attack on the base difficult. [42]
• Andevian II – Vacation planet known for its moons and breathtaking landscapes. [43]
• Andoria – The Andorian homeworld, a frozen M-class moon orbiting the blue gas giant Andor ( Procyon VIII), is a longtime member of the Federation whose inhabitants are distinguished by their blue skin, white hair and antennae. Andoria is near the Vulcan homeworld, and the Vulcans and Andorians are (perceived to be) traditional enemies. Andoria is also host to an Andorian subspecies called the Aenar, who live in isolation from the rest of their world. The albino Aenar are blind but strongly telepathic. [44] [45] [46] [47] Vulcan ambassador V'Lar negotiated the first treaty between Andoria and Vulcan. [48] According to Data, Andorian marriages require groups of four. [5] It is not known whether the Andor/Andoria system is located in the Epsilon Indi star system ( Star Trek: The Original Series ) or Procyon system ( Star Trek: Star Charts ).
• Andros III – Home of Dr. Bathkin. [49]
• Angel I – A remote Class-M planet orbiting Alpha Gruis , located near the Romulan Neutral Zone. Targeted as a potential Federation member, no doubt due to its strategic location. Its humanoid matriarchy was visited by a UFP ship in 2302 before the USS Enterprise -D came looking for a disabled freighter's survivors 62 years later. It has no traces of naturally occurring platinum. [50]
• Angosia III – Homeworld of the Angosian species, who emerged victorious from its war with the Tarsians. In 2366, the Angosians's bid to join the Federation was jeopardized after Capt. Picard discovered that the native authorities had imprisoned its bio-altered veterans on a lunar colony once the war was over. [51]
• Antede III – Homeworld of the fish-like Antedean species. [52]
• Antica – A planet in the Beta Renner system and homeworld to a canine-like carnivorous race who are deadly enemies of their system neighbors, the Selay. [53]
• Antos IV – Home to both a species of giant energy-generating worms and an intelligent species who have perfected the techniques of cellular metamorphosis. Captain Garth learned the ability while convalescing on this planet; it undermined his sanity. [54]
• AR-558 – Planet in the Chin'toka system of the Alpha Quadrant which is inhospitable to humanoid life. It was the location of a Dominion communications array. During the Dominion-Federation War, AR-558 was invaded by Federation troops and held for five months without relief forces and minimal supplies. [55]
• Archanis IV – Federation colony world which Gowron wanted evacuated in 2372-73; Sisko says it's "a long way from [DS9]". [56] [57] While under the power of a hostile entity, Pavel Chekov once claimed that the research outpost on this planet was the site of an attack on his non-existent brother, Piotr. [58]
• Archer IV – The fourth planet in the 61 Ursae Majoris system, and the first habitable M-class planet discovered and explored by the Enterprise (NX-01) . In the 22nd Century, the pollen of plants on this planet had a powerful hallucinogenic effect that nearly caused Commander Trip Tucker to murder Science Officer T'Pol on suspicion of colluding with imaginary aliens against the Enterprise crew. [59] By the 23rd Century, this problem was solved, and the planet became the home of a thriving Federation colony and was named after Captain Jonathan Archer . [60] In the 24th Century, the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D) was en route to Archer IV when it encountered a temporal rift; in the alternate timeline created by this incursion, the planet was the location of a major battle in which Federation forces defeated those of the Klingon Empire. [61]
• Archer's Comet – Not a planet, but the largest comet ever discovered and large enough for an away team to land on it with a shuttlecraft and collect core samples. [62] Note: Proper reference to it should be to "Comet Archer". [ original research? ]
• Archer's Planet – Planet in the Gamma Trianguli sector. Not to be confused with Archer IV which is a different planet. It was the Enterprise -D's destination when it encounters a temporal rift. [61]
• Arcturus IV – Homeworld of the Arcturian species. [63]
• Ardana – Third planet orbiting the star Rasalas ( Mu Leonis A). A Federation member in 2268, despite then supporting two widely disparate castes; the privileged upper-class lived in the city of Stratos, considered the finest example of sustained anti-gravity elevation in the galaxy, while the lower-class "troglytes" were forced to stay on the surface and mine zenite. James Kirk helped end years of mistrust between the two in 2269 while retrieving zenite to stop a plague, and the caste differences were eliminated at Federation request. [64]
• Argana II – The Enterprise's destination as they leave Eminiar VII for their next assignment. [65]
• Argelius II – Planet strategically important for its port for space-faring races, especially thanks to its hedonistic and hospitable humanoid natives. It was beset by the murdering Redjac entity in 2267. [25] His stateroom on the Enterprise-D is so spacious that Scotty says it reminds him of a hotel room on Argelius. [17]
• Argratha – Gamma Quadrant homeworld of the Argrathi species. [66]
• Argus X – Planet surveyed by the crew of the USS Enterprise NCC-1701 where they encounter a vampiric entity. [67]
• Ariannus – A planet threatened by a bacterial invasion in 2268, until the Enterprise conducted an orbital decontamination. [68]
• Arkaria – Inhabited planet and the site of a support base for the orbital Remmler Array, where would-be terrorists and local administrators tried to hijack trilithium resin waste from the Enterprise -D's warp drive during a baryon sweep. [69]
• Arloff IX – Geordi mentions that the starship USS Charleston will make an extended stop at Arloff IX. [70]
• Armus IX – Riker wore an outfit during a diplomatic conference made of ceremonial feathers from Armus IX. [50]
• Arret – Counterpart of Earth ("Terra" spelled backwards) in the alternate universe where time flows backward. [71]
• Arvada III – Site of a tragic disaster where a young Beverly Crusher and her grandmother were two of the few surviving colonists. The elder woman's knowledge of medicinal roots saved them when medical ships were late. [72]
• Aschelan V – A Cardassian fuel depot in the DMZ near the Badlands. It was the target of the Cardassian Dreadnought weapon which was reprogrammed by the Maquis. The weapon was intercepted first by the Caretaker Array and sent to the Delta Quadrant where it targeted the inhabited planet Rakosa V. [31]
• Astral V – Federation colony with a museum dedicated to spacecraft. [73]
• Atalia VII – Site of a diplomatic conference delayed by the Enterprise -D's involvement in Dr. Galen's genetic puzzle. [74]
• Atbar Prime – Cardassian planet, site of the Cardassian Liberation Front's headquarters. The base was destroyed by Dominion forces in 2375. [75]
• Athos IV – Planet which was the location of the last pocket of the Maquis resistance who hid below the surface. The group was wiped out in 2373 by Dominion forces. [76]
• Atifs IV – Planet where the ruling Oligarchy employs a stone-knocking ritual of thanks during mealtime, echoing that of the Betazoid and Oolan cultures' meal chimes. [52]
• Atlec – Planet located in the Omega Sagitta system. Along with the people of Straleb, its population makes up the Coalition of Madena. War between the planets almost broke out in 2362, when the rogue freighter captain Thadiun Okona was accused of stealing the Straleb "Jewel of Thesia" for Yadar, the daughter of Atlec's leader Debin. [77]
• Atrea IV – This planet's cooling core magma was reheated by the Enterprise -D while working with its native scientist, Dr. Pran Tainer, and his wife, Juliana, onetime wife of Dr. Soong and co-creator of Data. [78]
• ' Aucdet IX – Planet with a Federation medical facility visited by the Enterprise-D. (It is spelled with an apostrophe and a small a in the subtitle track.) [79]
• Aurelia – Homeworld of the Aurelians and a member of the United Federation of Planets . [ citation needed ]
• Avenal VII – Planet in Cardassian space that Klingon ruler Gowron ordered a disastrous attack upon in 2375, where all Klingon ships were destroyed. [80]
• Avery III – Planet in the Delta Quadrant within the Vidiian Sodality. It was the location of a hidden Vidiian base. [81]
• Axanar – Located in the well-known Epsilon Eridani system. Homeworld of the Axanar species. [82] It was also the site of a historic mission led by Garth of Izar. [54]

Commander Deanna Troi is a main character in the science-fiction television series Star Trek: The Next Generation and related TV series and films, portrayed by actress Marina Sirtis. Troi is half-human, half-Betazoid and has the psionic ability to sense emotions. She serves as the ship's counselor on USS Enterprise -D . Throughout most of the series, she holds the rank of lieutenant commander. In the seventh season, however, Troi takes the bridge officer's examination and is promoted to the rank of commander, but continues as counselor. Deanna and Riker were the last Star Trek: The Next Generation main cast members to appear on television in the 2005 finale of the later Star Trek: Enterprise TV show, until Patrick Stewart announced he would return to the role of Jean-Luc Picard in 2019 in Star Trek: Picard . Deanna appears in all four TNG theatrical films, and also in three episodes of Star Trek: Voyager .

Omega Sagittarii , formally named Terebellum , is a G-type subgiant star in the constellation of Sagittarius. It has an apparent visual magnitude of approximately 4.70.

Fascism is a form of far-right, authoritarian ultranationalism characterized by dictatorial power, forcible suppression of opposition, and strong regimentation of society and of the economy which came to prominence in early 20th-century Europe. The first fascist movements emerged in Italy during World War I, before spreading to other European countries. Opposed to liberalism, Marxism, and anarchism, fascism is placed on the far-right within the traditional left–right spectrum.

• B'Saari II – Homeworld of the B'Saari species. [83]
• Ba'ku – Class-M planet hidden inside a region of space called The Briar Patch. The planet had unique metaphasic particle rings that generate a rejuvenation effect on its inhabitants, a lost colony of Son'a who settled there sometime in the 21st Century. In 2375, an attempt to strip the rings of its particles by the Son'a commander Ru'afo and the recently widowed Vice Admiral Matthew Dougherty of Star Fleet was foiled by the crew of the Enterprise -E. [84]
• Babel – Neutral planet where the Federation Council met in 2267 to determine the admission of the Coridian planets to the Federation. The Articles of Federation were signed on this planet in 2161. [85] Babel orbits Wolf 424 , close to Sol & Earth. [ citation needed ]
• Bajor – Homeworld of the Bajoran species. It is the 7th planet in the B'hava'el system. The system is known for being near the Bajoran Wormhole which provides access to the Gamma Quadrant. The space station Deep Space Nine orbits near the system. [39]
• Bajor VIII – Eighth planet in the Bajoran star system with six colonies containing several thousand Bajoran settlers. Its proper name is Andros and it has at least two moons. Terrorist Tahna Los , after picking up the explosive bilitrium from the Duras sisters behind the "lower" moon, threatened to blow up the planet's colonists in 2369 if Major Kira did not take him to Deep Space Nine. [86]
• Balancar – Alpha Quadrant planet and the source of "syrup of swill". [87]
• Balosnee VI – A vacation planet (pronounced "BOWEL-us-nee") where the soothing harmonies of the tides can cause stimulating hallucinations. The world was one of Zek's two choices for his first vacation in 85 years after his short-lived "retirement" as Grand Nagus, but he eventually opted for Risa and its "voluptuous females" before faking his death. [88]
• Banean homeworld – Delta Quadrant homeworld to the Banea, an independent spacefaring culture in competition with its rival neighbor, the militaristic Numiri. During a stop by the USS Voyager in 2371 to repair a damaged collimator, Paris was convicted of murder and forced to relive the act repeatedly through memory implants, the Banean penal method, until a Numiri spy was revealed to be the true killer. [89]
• Barisa Prime – Federation colony located near Tzenkethi space. In 2371, the USS Defiant answers a faked distress call from Barisa indicating the world was attacked by Tzenkethi forces. [90]
• Barkon IV – Alpha Quadrant homeworld to a Renaissance-level culture [91] ruled by village elders and a magistrate. A downed probe was retrieved by Data, who suffered memory loss on the mission and subsequently contaminated the inhabitants of a nearby village with radioactive material. He later found a way to cure the inhabitants of the resulting radiation sickness. [92]
• Barradas III – Planet where Riker was captured by mercenaries led by Arctus Baran while searching for Capt. Picard's killers. Riker discovers Picard posing as one of the mercenaries to infiltrate their theft of artifacts. [93]
• Barson II – Planet where the Enterprise -D transported medical supplies to fight a viral outbreak. [34]
• Barzan – An independent Alpha Quadrant planet that is home to a poor but proud race whose hopes for progress based on a nearby wormhole were dashed in 2366 when it was discovered to be unstable. [94]
• Beltane IX – A trading planet of some merchant marine repute within a shuttlecraft's range of Relva VII. Jake Kurland, a rejected Starfleet Academy finalist, intended to "run away" from the Enterprise -D and sign on aboard a freighter there. [21]
• Benecia Colony – A young Federation colony with only minimal medical facilities in 2269, when Dr. Janice Lester used them to hide her life-energy transfer with James T. Kirk. [95] Also, presumably, the location of the rehabilitation colony where the Karidian Company was slated to perform, but where Lenore Karidian herself was instead treated for a psychotic break after killing her father Anton. [96]
• Benthos – Homeworld of the Benthan species. [97]
• Benzar – homeworld of the Benzite species, in orbit of Securis, better known as Delta Pavonis . One native, Ensign Mendon, served on the Enterprise -D as part of an exchange program. Another, Mordock, became the first of his race to be admitted to Starfleet Academy. [21] In 2374, Benzar was conquered by the Dominion during the Dominion War , and later liberated by Romulan forces. [98] [99]
• Berengaria VII – A planet known for its dragon-like lifeforms. [100] In 2151, the Enterprise NX-01 scouted the planet as a proposed site for one of the Federation's first starbases. [101] In 2373, Winn Adami asked Captain Benjamin Sisko rhetorically whether the Federation would sacrifice Berengaria to protect Bajor from the Dominion. [49]
• Bersallis III – Planet with renowned firestorms, which occur every seven years. In 2369, the storms forced the Enterprise -D to evacuate the Federation outpost there. [102]
• Beta III – Planet whose society is ruled over by a computer called Landru. [103]
• Beta VI – Federation colony and destination of the USS Enterprise NCC-1701, before crew were abducted by the entity Trelane to his planet Gothos. [104]
• Beta XII-A – Location of a Federation agricultural colony. In 2268, an alien entity sent a fake distress call the Enterprise NCC-1701 claiming the world was attacked by the Klingons. It was all an elaborate ruse to get the crew of the ship to fight the Klingons so the entity could feed off their negative energy of hatred and anger. [58]
• Beta Agni II – Federation colony whose water supply was contaminated with tricyanate by trader Kivas Fajo as a diversion to kidnap Lt. Cmdr. Data. [105]
• Beta Antares IV – World mentioned as the home of a confusing, and terribly complicated, card game called fizzbin made up by James Kirk in a ruse to escape captors on Sigma Iota II in 2268. [106]
• Beta Aurigae – The USS Enterprise was to rendezvous with the USS Potemkin at Beta Aurigae, but Dr. Janice Lester, in Kirk's body, diverted the Enterprise to the Benecia Colony. [95] Note: In Bayer-system nomenclature, Beta Aurigae is the technical catalog name for Menkalinan . [ citation needed ]
• Beta Aquilae II – Second planet in the Beta Aquilae star system. Location of a Starfleet Academy annex. [34] Note: In Bayer-system nomenclature, Beta Aquilae is the technical catalog name for Alshain . [ citation needed ]
• Beta Cassius – another name for the Class M planet Haven. [107]
• Beta Kupsic – Destination of the Enterprise -D after leaving Starbase Montgomery. [108]
• Beta Niobe I – Also known as Sarpeidon, this class M planet was visited by the USS Enterprise in 2269 hours before its star Beta Niobe went supernova. The Enterprise crew discovered the natives of the world had escaped their fate by time traveling to their world's past. [109]
• Beta Stromgren – Star system claimed to be in Romulan territory where a red supergiant was on the verge of going supernova. It is the system where the Vega Nine probe found the living spaceship "Tin Man" ( a.k.a. Gomtuu) orbiting near the star. The ancient living ship, apparently the last of its kind, was lonely and ready to accept its suicidal destruction before joining with the Betazed prodigy Tam Elbrun who had been in psychic contact with it. [110]
• Beta Ursae Minoris II – Location of a Starfleet Academy annex. [34] Note: Beta Ursae Minoris is the Bayer designation for Kochab . [111]
• Betazed – Also called Beta Zeta V, Betazed is the homeworld of the Betazoid species, and member of the United Federation of Planets. It is the homeworld of Counselor Deanna Troi, and her mother Ambassador Lwaxana Troi. [52] [63] [112] In 2374, Dominion forces took over Betazed, but it was liberated by the Federation's Tenth Fleet. [113]
• Betelgeuse II – Homeworld of the Betelgeusan species. [114]
• Beth Delta I – Planet where Dr. Paul Stubbs offered to take Counselor Troi to see the city of New Manhattan over champagne. [115]
• Bilana III – Planet where a science institute served as the base of operations for an experimental type of propulsion called a Soliton Wave. The wave was generated by field coils on Bilana III and pushed a test vessel toward Lemma II at warp speeds without the ship itself generating the warp field. At Lemma II, a dispersion field would stop the wave and the ship would exit warp. [116]
• Bilaren – System with a Federation colony. Amanda Rodgers' adoptive parents were stationed at Bilaren. [117]
• Blue Horizon – Terraformed planet, the site of a Federation colony. The planet was visited by Benjamin Sisko and his son Jake on a vacation trip. [118]
• Bokara VI – Planet and site of a neuropsychology seminar attended by Deanna Troi in 2369. Troi was abducted from Borkar VI by the Romulan underground, who used her in a plan to help M'Ret defect to the Federation. [119]
• Bolarus IX – Federation planet and home to the Bolian species. The planet has an uneasy truce with the Moropa. It sent at least two delegates to the biennial Trade Agreements Conference on Betazed. [120] [121] [122]
• Bopak III – Uninhabited Class-M world in the Gamma Quadrant where Bashir and O'Brien encountered Jem'Hadar trying to break their Ketracel-white addiction. Its plants have a high degree of chlorophyll for the planet of a red giant star. [123]
• Boraal II – Homeworld of the medieval Boraalan species. Its atmosphere suddenly began a catastrophic dissipation in 2370. The Enterprise -D answered the distress signal sent by Dr. Nikolai Rozhenko, Worf's foster brother, who fell in love with a native woman while disguised as a cultural observer and broke the Prime Directive to save her village. [124]
• Boradis III – Site of the first Federation outpost in the Boradis system founded in 2331, and the first of 13 that have since been settled in the sector as of late 2365. Julian Bashir recalls the time he cured a plague on Boradis III. [125] [126]
• Boreal III – Planetary home port or residence of the non-Starfleet transport ship Kallisko , destroyed by the Crystalline Entity. [127]
• Boreth – The most sacred place of Klingons (pronounced "bore-OTH") where Kahless was supposed to return. It hosted a monastery for clerics keeping watch until his return and was maintained after their cloned version became Emperor in 2369. Worf went to Boreth to seek the return of Kahless and found a clone version instead. [128] Worf visited Boreth again after the destruction of the Enterprise -D. [129] DS9 had several artistic depictions of Borath on the promenade deck and in the replimat eatery. [130]
• Borg Prime – The homeworld of the Borg (speculative). The exact location is unknown, but most likely deep in the Delta Quadrant where the Borg control a huge empire, however it is not the center of governance, that is located in their unicomplex. [ original research? ]
• Boslic – Homeworld of the Boslic species. [131]
• Bracas V – A planet where La Forge has skin-dived among coral reefs. [132]
• Braslota – System with three with planets Totoro (Braslota I), Yuri (Braslota II) and Kei (Braslota III), which were fictitious codenames used in "Operation Lovely Angel", a battle simulation between the USS Enterprise -D and the 80-year-old USS Hathaway . [133] Note: The names were only seen on a computer screen and come from the anime series Dirty Pair .
• Brax – Planet in the Gamma Quadrant whose inhabitants call Q the "God of Lies". Vash visited Brax while in Q's company, though they were not particularly welcome. [134]
• Brechtian cluster – System with two inhabited planets threatened by the Crystalline Entity. [127]
• Bre'el IV – An inhabited world facing the planetwide chaos of quakes, massive tidal waves, and climate-altering dust clouds when its asteroidal moon threatened to fall out of orbit, (until Q helped out). [135]
• Breen homeworld – The frozen wasteland home of the Dominion-allied Breen species, who must use armored pressure suits when living on many Class-M worlds. Its climate is well-known to off-worlders. Cardassia, for one, has an embassy there. [4] [42] [136] [137] [138]
• Brekka – Native name for Delos IV, the Class-M home of felicium, an organic narcotic used by its natives to keep prosperous after they kept system neighbor Ornara secretly addicted to it for 200 years. [139] Note: This Delos IV should not be confused with the planet of another system, commonly called Delos, that is the site of an established Federation-world medical facility.
• Brentalia – A planet where endangered lifeforms from different worlds can be brought for refuge. Two of the last fourteen surviving gilvos of Corvan II were transported by the Enterprise -D here for refuge breeding. [116] Worf took Alexander to see the planet's zoo. [140]
• Brinda V – Inhabited planet where half the population of a small planet was reported to have been transported away by Orion traders to work as slave labor in their mining camps. Constable Odo had read of the incident and initially compared it to the situation on the Yadera colony. [13]
• Bringloid V – Class-M planet endangered by increasing stellar flares and instability in 2365, home to the 223 descendants of the mostly forgotten Neo-Transcendentalists dropped off by the S.S. Mariposa colony ship that left Earth in 2123. Anachronisms even then, the people took refuge 30 meters below the surface but repeatedly refused to develop advanced technology. [18]
• Browder IV – Planetary site of a terraforming effort by the USS Hood in 2366, to which the Enterprise -D was bound after helping end a plague on Cor Caroli V. Picard's kidnapping by aliens as part of a bizarre study on authority delayed that mission. [120]
• Brunali homeworld – Homeworld of the Brunali species. [141]
• Bryma – A former Cardassian colony site in the Demilitarized Zone where the Deep Space 9 runabouts held off a Maquis attack on a confirmed illegal arms depot amid the civilian center. The system included an Oort Cloud. Commander Sisko worried that a forced Cardassian response to the attack would destroy the fragile peace treaty with the UFP. [142]
• Bynaus – A planet orbiting Beta Magellan and home to the Bynar race, a computer-dependent culture threatened by a nearby supernova's electro-magnetic pulse. In 2364, natives commandeered the Enterprise -D, the only mobile computer large enough to store their master banks. [143]

In the fictional Star Trek universe, the United Federation of Planets (UFP) is the interstellar government that sent Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, and the crew of the starship Enterprise on its mission of peaceful exploration. Commonly referred to as "the Federation", it was introduced in the television show Star Trek (1966-1969). The survival, success, and growth of the Federation and its principles of freedom have become some of the Star Trek franchise's central themes.

Wolf 424 is a binary star system comprising two red dwarf stars at a distance of approximately 14.2 light years from the Sun. It is located in the constellation Virgo, between the stars ε Virginis and ο Virginis.

• List of Star Trek planets:

Related Research Articles

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine ( DS9 ) is an American science fiction television series created by Rick Berman and Michael Piller. It originally aired from January 3, 1993, to June 2, 1999, in syndication, spanning 176 episodes over seven seasons. The fourth series in the Star Trek franchise, it served as the sequel to Star Trek: The Next Generation . Set in the 24th century, when Earth is part of a United Federation of Planets, it is based on the eponymous space station Deep Space Nine, located adjacent to a wormhole connecting Federation territory to the Gamma Quadrant on the far side of the Milky Way galaxy.

Worf , son of Mogh is a fictional character in the Star Trek franchise. He appears in the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG) and seasons four through seven of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (DS9) as well as the feature films Star Trek Generations (1994), Star Trek: First Contact (1996), Star Trek: Insurrection (1998), and Star Trek: Nemesis (2002). Worf is the first Klingon main character to appear in Star Trek , and has appeared in more Star Trek franchise episodes than any other character. He is portrayed by actor Michael Dorn.

The Cardassians are a fictional extraterrestrial species in the American science fiction franchise Star Trek . They were devised in 1991 for the series Star Trek: The Next Generation before being used in the subsequent series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager .

Starfleet is a fictional organization in the Star Trek media franchise. Within this fictional universe, Starfleet is a uniformed space force maintained by the United Federation of Planets as the principal means for conducting deep space exploration, research, defense, peacekeeping, and diplomacy,. While the majority of Starfleet's members are human and it is headquartered on Earth, hundreds of other species are also represented. The majority of the franchise's protagonists are Starfleet commissioned officers.

A transporter is a fictional teleportation machine used in the Star Trek universe. Transporters convert a person or object into an energy pattern, then "beam" it to a target, where it is reconverted into matter (rematerialization). The term "transporter accident" is a catch-all term for when a person or object does not rematerialize correctly.

The Star Trek fictional universe contains a variety of weapons, ranging from missiles to melee. The Star Trek franchise consists primarily of several multi-season television shows and a dozen movies, as well as various video games and inspired merchandise. Many aspects of the fictional universe impact modern popular culture, especially the lingo and the idea of a spacecraft launching space torpedoes and firing lasers, and have had a wide influence in the late 20th to early 21st century. Star Trek is popular enough that its science fiction concepts have even been studied by real scientists, and NASA described its science in relation to the real world as "entertaining combination of real science, imaginary science gathered from lots of earlier stories, and stuff the writers make up week-by-week to give each new episode novelty." For example, NASA noted that the Star Trek "phasers" were a fictional extrapolation of real-life lasers, and compared them to real-life microwave based weapons that have a stunning effect.

In the Star Trek universe, the Dominion is an interstellar state and military superpower from the Gamma Quadrant, composed of hundreds of dominated alien species. The Dominion is commanded by Changelings/The Founders, a race of shapeshifters responsible for both the creation of the Dominion and all strategic decisions undertaken throughout its history. The Dominion is administered by the Vorta, clones specifically genetically engineered by the Founders to act as field commanders, administrators, scientists and diplomats. The Jem'Hadar, also engineered by the Founders, are the military arm of the Dominion and one of the most powerful military forces in the galaxy during the Dominion's height.

" The Chase " is the 146th episode of the syndicated American science fiction television series Star Trek: The Next Generation , the 20th episode of the sixth season. It is directed by series cast member Jonathan Frakes.

Miles Edward O'Brien is a character in the fictional Star Trek franchise. He appears sporadically in all seven seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation and is a main cast member of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine . O'Brien was originally the transporter chief of the USS Enterprise -D . He was later promoted to Chief of Operations of Deep Space Nine. O'Brien is the only major Star Trek character described as both ethnically Irish and born in Ireland. O'Brien is portrayed by actor Colm Meaney.

" Journey's End " is the 172nd episode of the American science fiction television series Star Trek: The Next Generation , and is the 20th episode of the seventh season.

Lists of Star Trek spacecraft is a comprehensive breakdown of the spacecraft featured in the Star Trek franchise.

The planetary systems of stars other than the Sun and the Solar System are a staple element in many works of the science fiction genre.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Star Trek :

• 1 2 TNG : " The Vengeance Factor "
• ↑ TNG : " Captain's Holiday "
• 1 2 DS9 : " When It Rains… "
• 1 2 TNG : " Data's Day "
• ↑ DS9 : " Doctor Bashir, I Presume? "
• ↑ DS9 : " ...Nor the Battle to the Strong "
• ↑ Ent : " Civilization "
• ↑ Voy : " The Chute "
• ↑ Voy : " Prime Factors "
• ↑ TNG : " When the Bough Breaks "
• ↑ TOS : " The Deadly Years "
• 1 2 DS9 : " Shadowplay "
• ↑ DS9 : " Past Tense "
• ↑ TNG: " The Schizoid Man "
• 1 2 TOS : " Amok Time "
• 1 2 TNG : " Relics "
• 1 2 TNG : " Up the Long Ladder "
• ↑ DS9 : " A Man Alone "
• ↑ TOS : " The Enemy Within "
• 1 2 3 TNG : " Coming of Age "
• ↑ TAS : " One of Our Planets is Missing
• ↑ TOS : " Court Martial "
• ↑ TOS : " The Ultimate Computer "
• 1 2 3 4 5 TOS : " Wolf in the Fold "
• ↑ TNG : " Sarek "
• ↑ TNG : " Brothers "
• ↑ TNG : " Galaxy's Child "
• ↑ TNG : " Future Imperfect "
• ↑ TOS : " Charlie X "
• 1 2 Voy : " Dreadnought "
• ↑ TNG : " Encounter at Farpoint "
• ↑ TNG : " The Pegasus "
• 1 2 3 4 TNG : " Eye of the Beholder "
• ↑ DS9 : " Prophet Motive "
• ↑ Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
• ↑ "Star Trek Beyond" .
• ↑ Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
• 1 2 TNG : " Birthright, Part I "
• ↑ Star Trek Generations
• ↑ TOS : " The Paradise Syndrome "
• 1 2 DS9 : " Return to Grace "
• ↑ DS9 : " The Forsaken "
• ↑ Ent : " The Andorian Incident "
• ↑ Ent : " These Are the Voyages... "
• ↑ Ent : " United "
• ↑ Ent : " The Aenar "
• ↑ Ent : " Fallen Hero "
• 1 2 DS9 : " In the Cards "
• 1 2 TNG : " Angel One "
• ↑ TNG : " The Hunted "
• 1 2 3 TNG : " Manhunt "
• ↑ TNG : " Lonely Among Us "
• 1 2 TOS : " Whom Gods Destroy "
• ↑ DS9 : " The Siege of AR-558 "
• ↑ DS9 : " Broken Link "
• ↑ DS9 : " Apocalypse Rising "
• 1 2 TOS : " Day of the Dove "
• ↑ Ent : " Strange New World "
• ↑ Ent : " In a Mirror, Darkly "
• 1 2 TNG : " Yesterday's Enterprise "
• ↑ Ent : " Breaking the Ice "
• 1 2 TNG : " Ménage à Troi "
• ↑ TOS : " The Cloud Minders "
• ↑ TOS : " A Taste of Armageddon "
• ↑ DS9 : " Hard Time "
• ↑ TOS : " Obsession "
• ↑ TOS : " Let That Be Your Last Battlefield "
• ↑ TNG : " Starship Mine "
• ↑ TNG : " The Neutral Zone "
• ↑ TAS : " The Counter-Clock Incident "
• ↑ TNG : " The Arsenal of Freedom "
• ↑ TNG : " Booby Trap "
• ↑ TNG : " The Chase "
• ↑ DS9 : " The Dogs of War "
• ↑ DS9 : " Blaze of Glory "
• ↑ TNG : " The Outrageous Okona "
• ↑ TNG : " Inheritance
• ↑ TNG: " The Child "
• ↑ DS9 : " Tacking into the Wind "
• ↑ Voy : " Faces "
• ↑ Ent : " Fight or Flight "
• ↑ Ent : " Horizon "
• ↑ Star Trek: Insurrection
• ↑ TOS : " Journey to Babel "
• ↑ DS9 : " Past Prologue "
• ↑ DS9 : " The Magnificent Ferengi "
• ↑ DS9 : " The Nagus "
• ↑ Voy : " Ex Post Facto "
• ↑ DS9 : " The Adversary "
• ↑ "STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION "Thine Own Self " " . Star Trek Minutiae: Exploring the Details of Science Fiction . Retrieved February 11, 2018 . Barkon Four. The level of technology on this planet is roughly equivalent to that of the Renaissance on Earth
• ↑ TNG : " Thine Own Self "
• ↑ TNG : " Gambit "
• ↑ TNG : " The Price "
• 1 2 TOS : " Turnabout Intruder "
• ↑ TOS: " The Conscience of the King "
• ↑ Voy : " Vis à Vis "
• ↑ DS9 : " The Ship "
• ↑ DS9 : " The Reckoning "
• ↑ TOS : " This Side of Paradise "
• ↑ Ent : " Bound "
• ↑ TNG : " Lessons "
• ↑ TOS : " The Return of the Archons "
• ↑ TOS : " The Squire of Gothos "
• ↑ TNG : " The Most Toys "
• ↑ TOS : " A Piece of the Action "
• ↑ TNG : " Haven "
• ↑ TNG : " The Icarus Factor "
• ↑ TOS : " All Our Yesterdays "
• ↑ TNG : " Tin Man "
• ↑ "The Guardians of the Pole | EarthSky.org" . earthsky.org . Retrieved January 18, 2018 .
• ↑ TNG : " Half a Life "
• ↑ DS9 : " In the Pale Moonlight "
• ↑ Star Trek: The Motion Picture
• ↑ TNG : " Evolution "
• 1 2 TNG : " New Ground "
• ↑ TNG : " True Q "
• ↑ DS9 : " Second Sight "
• ↑ TNG : " Face of the Enemy "
• 1 2 TNG : " Allegiance "
• ↑ DS9 : " Invasive Procedures "
• ↑ DS9 : " Who Mourns for Morn? "
• ↑ DS9 : " Hippocratic Oath "
• ↑ TNG : " Homeward "
• ↑ TNG : " The Emissary "
• ↑ DS9 : " The Quickening "
• 1 2 TNG : " Silicon Avatar "
• ↑ TNG : " Rightful Heir
• ↑ DS9 : " The Way of the Warrior "
• ↑ DS9 : " The Muse "
• ↑ DS9 : " The Homecoming "
• ↑ TNG : " The Loss "
• ↑ TNG : " Peak Performance "
• ↑ DS9 : " Q-Less "
• ↑ TNG : " Déjà Q "
• ↑ DS9 : " Indiscretion "
• ↑ DS9 : " For the Uniform "
• ↑ DS9 : " Crossfire "
• ↑ TNG : " Symbiosis "
• ↑ TNG : " Imaginary Friend "
• ↑ Voy : " Child's Play "
• ↑ DS9 : " The Maquis (Part II)"
• ↑ TNG : " 11001001 "
• List of staff
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• " Beam me up, Scotty "
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3.1.1 The situation of the Federation

The United Federation of Planets is located - and that is accepted by all official sources - in the heart of the known Star Trek universe, about 24000 ly away from the Galactic center in the Local Arm of the Milky Way. The Federation is the largest of the six known empires in local space and the sole power to extend over two quadrants - the Alpha- and the Beta Quadrant, therefore the Federation takes a special position concerning the Jankata Accords signed by all powers. Although the quadrant border, the position of the most important planet: Earth, with the Federation Council, the Federation President's Office and Starfleet Headquarters, is situated nearly in the center of the territory of the Federation, the share of the total area that is located in the Alpha Quadrant is nevertheless larger than the part in the Beta Quadrant. Surrounded by the 5 other larger alliances and empires, and a dozen smaller ones like the Talarians, the Tzenkethi, the Gorn and the Trill, the Federation is a typical "middle power" - it is the "connecting piece" between the classical empires of the Klingons and Romulans at the Eastern border in the Beta Quadrant and the territories of the Cardassian Union, Bajor, Ferenginar and the Breen at the Western border in the Alpha Quadrant, regions that were not discovered until the 24th century.

3.1.2 The size and structure of the Federation

Undoubtedly the United Federation of Planets is the strongest power in the Alpha and Beta Quadrant, however, the officially fixed extension of the Federation is so large that the resulting problems can't be simply ignored without further considerations, but have to be solved. In the end, this isn't possible without a sophisticated theory, which shall be developed in the following section after the examination of the aspects "pro large Federation" and "con large Federation".

1. The official size

To say it straight to the point: according to the Star Trek Encyclopedia, the Federation has a diameter of 10000 ly, a figure that is also affirmed by all other official documentations and has been specified to 8000 ly in Star Trek: First Contact. It is true that we know only few further definite facts about the extension of the Federation, however, most official sources mistakenly imply that the Federation would cover 8000 ly with a more or less unified territory, an assumption that is supported especially by the infamous "Milky Way maps", which depict a several (ten) thousand light years large territory for every single power. But what is wrong with this "theory of a large Federation" (TLF)? Plain and simple: with regard to the technical limitations of the warp-driven ships of the Federation and nearly all other known empires, it is totally impossible and contradicts in many respects with the everyday life of Star Fleet that we've experienced in both TNG and DS9. Within a few days, weeks and sometimes months the vessels in these series reach their destination and travel all over the Federation. But warp speed is - and this fact has not only officially been fixed, but was also confirmed by many episodes from the new series - not nearly as fast as the authors would like it to be, and therefore it would take a vessel - that admits the Encyclopedia frankly - many years to travel through the Federation. Not to speak of the fact that it would be extremely difficult and would require a highly decentralized infrastructure to hold such an inflated empire together, another, even more graver problem arises because of this: because of the official positions of the Klingon Empire and the Cardassian Union at opposite sides of the Federation (the "Eastern" and "Western" frontier), the journeys of the Enterprise-D within one season - in one episode near the Cardassian border, in another episode in Klingon space - and the journey of the Klingon/Romulan fleets to DS9/Cardassia within a few weeks, perhaps months become completely impossible. And Voyager would have never been able to reach DS9 from Earth, there she was put into service only three months before the first mission in the Badlands. How different the times shown in the episodes and the "officially" defined times for travelling through the Federation are, following table clarifies:

Consequently, even at maximum warp, a patrol ship would need several years to travel through the giant empire only once - not to speak of the fact that the vessels of everyday traffic like freighters and personal transporters mostly can only attain the cruising speed of warp 6 and furthermore have to stop at a starbase after some weeks of flight for maintenance, repair or fuelling (typical ships need tons of deuterium and a antimatter replacement every 3 years). These circumstances increase the horrendous travel time of decades still by many years.

2. The size favored by the episodes

Although the official extension of the Federation given by the official publications was fixed too often and too definitely not to be regarded as an affirmed basis figure in the Star Trek universe, amazingly in most episodes and movies, which finally have built up most of the Star Trek Galaxy, the size of the Federation is not the same, but considerably differs. Especially in The Next Generation episodes, the shown maps of the galaxy, which are usually based on the official Federation size or even depict larger space regions, contradict completely with the shown travels of the Enterprise within very limited time (usually hours or days at maximum). But also in the other Star Trek series, maps or given distances don't match with the longest possible duration for the journeys (e.g. the time between two episodes). In Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, however, first signs of a realistic   redefinition of the distances in the Star Trek universe are recognizable, because merely detailed maps are used instead of maps of the entire Milky Way, and the mentioned distances to important planets (Cardassia, Ferenginar, Trill) are all within 100 ly from DS9. With its three-dimensional astrometric maps, Voyager hasn't gone into the size of the Federation yet, but the permanent disregard of the Beta Quadrant (the most obvious error was in "Barge of the Dead": "the Borg have assimiliated a Klingon Bird of Prey in the Alpha Quadrant") and doubtful ideas like the Jankata Accords, which actually shouldn't apply to the Federation as a inter-quadrant power, mars the hope for the future. Now, the following detailed examples will prove how the various TV episodes and movies support a "theory of a small Federation" (TSF) in most cases, instead of the officially supported "theory of a large Federation".

Star Trek: The Next Generation - [019] Conspiracy

Star Trek: The Next Generation - [124] The Chase

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - [019] In the Hands of the Prophets

In Keiko O'Brien's school, we see some very interesting charts on the wall - among them, a map of the Milky Way which looks somehow familiar to us. On closer examination, we see that it is indeed an extended version of the map from [TNG] Conspiracy. The single stars in the cubic spatial volumes are now labeled, and a degree-based graduation is recognizable. Whiles it seemed to be a communications map of the Federation in [TNG] Conspiracy, the chart now seems to represent the whole known part of the Galaxy. Correspondingly, not only Federation planets, but also the core planets of all other known empires of the Alpha and Beta quadrants are marked, e.g. Bajor, Cardassia, Qo'noS, Romulus and Trill. Although undoubtedly, the chart is the most complete and detailed map of the entire explored space ever seen in Star Trek, it nevertheless isn't realistic at all, but is "only" one of the many maps in the series created for mere aesthetic purposes, which just wasn't drawn on the basis of the numerous facts and distances established over the years and the information provided by the real astronomy. This is proven by the wrong situation or distance of the contained real stars Alpha Centauri, Tau Ceti, Sirius, Rigel and especially Deneb (which shouldn't be included in the map at all, since this star is more than 3000 ly away from Earth), and the positions of some of the contained planets not affirmed by the voyages shown in the episodes such as Trill and Qo'noS, which are both located at far too remote places on the map. At any rate, canon or noncanon, scientifically correct or not, the map seems to support the "theory of a small Federation" as well, if the distances of the correctly marked real stars are used as a scale.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - [069] Family Business / [073] The Way of the Warrior (1)

"Cestus III is located at the opposite border of the Federation, so far away that even a suspace transmission travels 3 months to reach this planet.

"At maximum warp, Cestus III is almost  8 weeks away from the station."

It is a rather unexpected case of luck that twice, the distance to a planet at the border of the Federation in the Beta Quadrant is mentioned. However, at least the numbers of the first statement must be wrong because an amplified subspace transmission (V = warp 9.9999 = 199516c) can cover almost 50000 ly in 90 days, what is then far too much for the diameter of the Federation. However, on the basis of the first statement (Cestus III as a fixed point at the "Eastern" border of the Federation), the second one is more useful. Although we don't know exactly what the "maximum speed" is considered to be, we can assume a speed between warp 9 and warp 9.9 - what results in a small Federation diameter of 200-500 ly .

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - [104] Trials and Tribble-ations

"The distance to our previous location [near Cardassia] is almost 200 ly [...] We're orbiting K-7, one of the old deep space stations near the Klingon border."

This quote does not directly deal with the size of the Federation, but because the Cardassian and Klingon Empires directly adjoin the Federation in the "West" / "East" and therefore the distance between these two empires defines the diameter of the Federation, we can indeed say something about the size of the Federation by analyzing the given distance. Undoubtedly, the Federation must have a horizontal diameter of less than 200 ly according to the statement. We can even specify this assumption: according to the map of the Bajor Sector in the ST:DS9 TM, Starbase 375 (which is located at the border of the Federation in the Alpha Quadrant) is located approximately 30 ly away from DS9, whose distance to the Defiant is merely a few light years at the moment of the time travel. Hence, a Federation diameter of about 170 ly is used in this episode, what again supports the "theory of a small federation". However, on the other hand, the figure is a bit too low in comparison with other DS9 episodes. Nevertheless, we can still argue that Dax roughly rounded the distance, and that K-7 is located in the "lower part" of the Federation-Klingon border, what would considerably boost the distance to DS9.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - [075] The Visitor

"Therefore he appeared somewhere near you, even if you were hundreds of light years away from the place the accident happened."

This statement is very similar to that one from [DS9] Trials and Tribble-ations , but this time, the distance Earth-DS9 is directly mentioned. However, that doesn't seem to help us much, since an exact figure is not mentioned. Nonetheless it confirms a considerably smaller Federation size, since the quote suggest that Earth is " hundreds of light years " (and not thousands or even tens of thousands of light years, how one could think in view of the official Federation diameter) away from Deep Space Nine.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - [146] Valiant

"The training mission should last 3 months [...] It was our mission to fly around the entire Federation [...]"

Again, this statement indicates a much smaller and more logical Federation diameter.  Of course, to travel 10000 ly (taking this diameter, the actual perimeter of the Federation would even be considerably larger) in 3 months is completely impossible, even at the maximum speed, which can be sustained for only a few hours (Defiant class vessels: Warp 9.982). On the basis of the given time of three months and the maximum permanently sustainable speed of the Defiant class - warp 8.9 (at speeds of warp 9 and above, ships of this class have difficulty in maintaining structural integrity) -, we get a maximum Federation perimeter of 361 ly, and therefore a maximum diameter of only 90.25 ly , assuming a nearly quadratic shape. Indeed, a Federation with a diameter of less than one hundred light years seems to be the favored model since DS9's 6th season - although a too small extension is as problematic as a two large one.

Star Trek: First Contact

"The Federation consists of 150 planets, spread over 8000 ly"

The sole movie which provides an exact figure concerning the size of the Federation, clearly seems to support the model of a large Federation, continuing the tradition of The Next Generation, where remote regions of the Federation were explored, and in contrast to Deep Space Nine, where all core planets and empires were crowded in a region with a diameter of hardly a hundred light years. Not only does this statement underpin the official extension of 10000 ly fixed by the Star Trek Encyclopedia, but it also specifies it. And since it apparently hasn't any reference to the actual plot, we can assume that it is an universal, theoretical statement.

Beside the various quotes from episodes and movies, there are indeed some further arguments,  supporting the one or the other theory.

3. The size of the Federation with regard to the numbered sectors

In fact, using some simple mathematic formulae, the maximum Federation size can be also calculated by examining the numbers of the contained sectors. It is well-known that the sectors at the farthest "Western" border, near the Cardassian Union, have 5-digit numbers, by 25,000 ( [TNG] The Wounded etc.). Because these sectors were the last ones to join the Federation (expansion of the Federation only in the Alpha quadrant in the 24th century - see the "Growth aspect"), we can assume that there are 25,000 Federation sectors at maximum. Probably, there are much less considering that the sectors are often numbered inconsistently or arbitrarily. Using this assumption, we now can calculate the maximum Federation area. Depending on the used sector definition - 20 ly as the diameter of a cubic volume, resulting in a side length of 11.5 ly (20/sqrt(3)), or 20 ly as the diameter of a two-dimensional plane with a side length of 14.1 ly (20/sqrt(2)), or simply 20 ly as the side length of a sector, there are different results. Since we anyway want to calculate the area and not the spatial volume of the Federation and, with regard to mathematics, the latter assumption is completely incorrect, we use 14.1 ly. With this side length, a sector area of 200 ly� can be calculated (0.5*20�). Provided that there are 25000 Federation sectors, this results in a total Federation area of 5,000,000 ly�. If the Federation has nearly a quadratic shape, the side length then is 2236 ly and the maximum diameter is 3162 ly . Hence, a Federation extending over several thousand light years is at least supported by the sector system.

4. Calculation of the size based on transgalactic situational relations

5. The size of the Federation in view of real stars

Although most real stars that were mentioned in Star Trek as Federation outposts or outposts close to the Federation are located within 200 ly from Earth and therefore seems to clearly fix the core region of the Federation, there are three stars which are very far away from Earth and are nonetheless within or near Federation space. These three stars - Deneb, Antares and Rigel - are therefore often called "boundary stones" of the Federation. They mark the outmost borders in the West, North and South of the sphere of influence of the Federation, and they consequently restrict its region to a certain size, because at the sole "open" side - the East - the empires of the Romulans and Klingons limit the extension of the Federation. The star Deneb , which is 3230 ly away from Earth (mere horizontal distance: 3209 ly), marks the Western border of the Federation, because Farpoint Station on Deneb IV is regarded as the last outpost before "the great unknown that starts behind" ( [TNG] Encounter at Farpoint ). With a distance of 773 ly (mere vertical distance: 619 ly), Rigel is a boundary star in the "South" of the Federation, because without UFP protection , the mining colony on Rigel XII "would never get help this far out" ( [TOS] Mudd's Women ). Generally, Antares is considered to be the "boundary stone" to the center of the Galaxy with a distance of 604 ly (vertical distance: 580 ly), although in this case, there is some scope for a still larger extension of the Federation because it seems illogical to place one of the most important yards of the Federation (the Antares IV Fleet Yards) at the border to the totality of unknown space. Consequently, on the one hand the large number of near real stars which undoubtedly belong to the Federation, for example Tau Ceti, Vulcan (40 Eridani-A), Gamma Hydrae etc., supports a quite small Federation (<200 ly), while the also often mentioned, but much farther away boundary stars indicate a Federation extension of several thousand light years and therefore affirm the theory of a large Federation.

6. The minimum size and the growth aspect

Despite all speculations and assumptions about the "theory of a small Federation", it should be taken into consideration that a too small Federation is as problematic as a too large one. It is an official fact that their are at least 150 Federation members, which all have their own home planet and possibly several  dozen colonies, therefore for all these planets, a certain space is needed. Consequently, at any rate a - not necessarily homogenous and jointed - space region of at least 1000 ly would be realistic, taking into account that, although nearly all stars have planets in the Star Trek universe (as mentioned in one episode), not every planet is of class M and not every class M planet is inhabited by an intelligent species that has already invented warp propulsion and furthermore wishes to be a member of the Federation, or is at least allowed to become one in view of the strict admission criteria (global government, high social standards etc.). These various requirements are probably a reason for the fact that the Federation hasn't grown significantly in the last one hundred years - there are about 50 new members since 2265 (in contrast to about 100 new members since the foundation of the Federation 2161 and 2265). And we furthermore shouldn't forget: not even our own home planet accomplishes a single of the criteria for a Federation membership at the moment. The moderate growth leads to yet another problem for a too small Federation territory: because since the 23rd century, beside the size of the Federation also the usual cruising speed of vessels (300-400c) hasn't changed significantly, those species first discovered in the 24th century like the Ferengi and Cardassians, whose empires are located near the current Federation border in the Alpha quadrant, should have been discovered much earlier. It's true that the Federation was probably mostly located in the Beta Quadrant in the 23rd century, and the "Western" border was correspondingly nearer to Earth (whereas the "Eastern" border was nearly the same at that time due to the adjoined empires), but it was always Starfleet's mission to explore the vastness of unknown space beyond the final frontier. However, if we examine the task area of the first Enterprise during its fifth five year mission in the 2260s (mostly near Earth and in the Beta quadrant), the suspicion seems to harden that the deep Alpha quadrant was actually "taboo" in the 23rd century. A possible reason could be for instance contemporary historical and political backgrounds, of which we don't know anything: after all, during the few exploring missions in the Alpha quadrant, the Enterprise always encountered a dangerous, powerful new species. Consequently, it is possible that the empires of these species were much larger than in the late 24th century and also included the regions currently belonging to the Cardassians and Ferengis, who perhaps where restricted to their home systems at that time, limiting the size of the Federation in that way.

7. Summarizing overview of both theories

Although nearly every episode, every movie, every book and every map seems to use another Federation size, the numerous mentioned examples have shown that the episodes, movies, books and other aspects of the Star Trek universe each always  - whether directly or indirectly - plead for one of two theories: the theory of a large Federation, which suggests a Federation size of 10000 ly (more precisely: 8000 ly), or the theory of a small Federation, which postulates a considerably smaller Federation size in the range of a few hundred till less than hundred light years.

8. Solution of the size problem by a synthesis of both theories

Apparently, we now have two theories for the size of the Federation, both supported by a considerable number of aspects and which both can't be disregarded without further considerations: after all, the 8000 ly large Federation has been officially confirmed, and the whole DS9 universe is based on a small Federation, that would collapse like a house of cards if the distances between the core planets of all important empires were longer than 100 ly. Because both theories consequently have a right to exist, there is no point in the further search for the ultimate proof for the one or the other theory; instead, a unification of both has to be considered, although this seems to be impossible at the first glance.

However, the solution, which has been mentioned briefly several times in the course of the argumentation, is surprisingly simple and on closer examination, it can be easily derived from one of the apparently most persuasive proofs for the theory of a large federation:

With this quote of Captain Picard, the extension of the Federation territory is fixed to the 10000 ly suggested by the Encyclopedia, that is incontrovertible. However, one should pay attention to the tricky wording, which does not explicitly demand a Federation territory of several thousand light years in the end. Instead, the spatial distribution of the planets over a region with a diameter/length/width/height of 8000 ly is mentioned. This finally leads to the idea that the Federation territory, where quite a lot non-aligned planets like Antede or Antica are located and that therefore naturally must have numerous "holes", not only resembles a Swiss cheese - even then the territory would still be far too large to facilitate the short distances seen in ST:DS9 -, but is distributed over this area in several fragments - what eventually corresponds to a synthesis of both competing theories, which shall be elaborated in the next paragraph.

That means: on the one hand, there is a core region of the Federation that is only few hundred light years or even less than hundred light years large, where all core planets (Earth, Alpha Centauri, Vulcan, Andor, Tellar) are situated. This area is restricted by the five adjoining powers and has not significantly changed its size for hundred or more years. In the relatively small core region, the whole action of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine takes place, what explains the short distances and travelling times in this series as well as the huge ship fleets that operate in a pretty small volume. On the other hand, the Federation also extends outside the space taken up by the "Core Federation" and the five other empires far into deep space - within a region with just the considered diameter of 8000 ly. Here, there are several single planets settled by the Federation, but the area is primarily dominated by agglomerations or concentrations of Federation planets that are far more extensive in size and population and which form autonomous "fragments" of the Federation each. Examples for such Federation fragments, which are detached from the core region and completely self-sufficient with an own administration and defense, are the regions around Deneb, Antares and Rigel - just those stars which there mentioned as "boundary stars"   of the Federation territory with regard to the theory of a large Federation. This wide-ranging and all in all more sparsely populated Federation region was explored by the Enterprise-D within seven years. On the one hand, the Enterprise could travel through the vastness unknown space between the different core regions without encountering large fleets of the Federation, and on the other hand, she could fly to the single "fragments" - mainly the core region, but also the Denebian region (in the first year) and the Rigel region (near Mintaka, in year five)

We have reached the point where of course the legitimate question arise how this theory can be conclusively proven. Basically, the plausibility and logic supports this solution of the Federation size problem, if we consider the political structure of the Federation, Starfleet's mission and the general state development in deep space (even though this point has not been empirically proven yet). At any rate, we cannot compare interstellar planetary alliances with international alliances, how Rick Sternbach (who has quasi laid the foundation for this theory with his own Federation+colonies thesis) has constantly remarked. From a general point of view, space actually is a single, homogenous, politically neutral zone, since 99.9% are vacuum. Only in extremely long distances - within the Milky Way every 1pc on average, there is a point that can be claimed at all, and in still longer distances there is a class M planet, which is inhabitable and only therefore relevant for a interstellar empire. In addition, the Federation isn't an empire like the Romulan Star Empire or the Klingon Empire, but a loose alliance of planets with any spatial position, which fulfill certain criteria. Consequently, the possibility of a compact, clearly isolated region, how it is the case with a empire based on conquest and subjugation, is not given from the very beginning, but a) a certain distance of the planets and b) a very large spatial volume, in which these planets are scattered, is forced.

However, plausibility, logic and realism are not the sole arguments by any means, which support this new theory. In the end, all arguments which were mentioned with regard to the two apparently opposing theories, do also apply to the synthesis of both theories: as already mentioned, there is no reason that the diverse indications for the Federations size in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine always applied merely to the core region, which in the end is the main part of the Federation. In contrast, in ST:TNG, the non-aligned space between the Federation and the other Federation regions were explored. With the survey of these extensive, several thousand light years large regions by the Enterprise-D and numerous other deep space vessels, the large numbers of the sector system are understandable: with a mere chronological designation of newly discovered sectors, already countless regions outside the core region were explored and numbered, when the new sectors in the Alpha Quadrant joined the Federation, what then results in numbers in the range of 21000 near Cardassian space. Because stars like Barzan, Rigel, Antares and Deneb do not belong to the core region of the Federation, the transgalactic situational relations and the situation of real stars does not contradict with the other arguments concerning the Federation size any longer. But forming a coherent alliance is made much more difficult due to the technical limitations of warp propulsion (maximum sustainable speed still warp 6) and of subspace radio (interstellar only realizable with subspace relay stations every 22.65 ly). Basically, one has to assume that the regions are completely self-contained concerning supply and defense, proven by the situation of important fleet yards near Antares IV and Rigel. Because of the self-organization, there is no need for defense and support. However, also a political independence to a large extent cannot be prevented, but because the Federation isn't an empire and all really important planets are concentrated within the central core region, a political connection between the outer regions and the core regions is actually not necessary. These regions do mostly profit from the Federation membership - for example due to the opportunity to set up own ship yards according to the pattern of the Federation and to form own tactical fleets within Starfleet (what leads to the described situation, that "the left hand of Starfleet does not know of the actions of the right hand"), while raw material deliveries (e.g. Dilithium from the mines of Rigel XII) or technology transfers (with the construction of starships in the yards of the outer regions and the following re-assignation and transportation to a yard in the core region) are only necessary to a low extent. In the end, the Federation membership mainly refers to the belief in common values - freedom, legal protection, protection of the dignity of all life forms and a common purpose of life - in order to attempt to advance the own existence as well as the rest of the Federation, irrespective how far the rest of the "large family" is away.

� 1999-2001 by Star Trek Dimension / Webmaster . Last update: April 30th, 2000

Planet classifications

• Edit source

The Planet Classification System was developed by the Federation as a means of conveniently categorizing planets using a uniform criteria consisting of a number of elements including, but not limited to: atmospheric composition, age, surface temperature, size, and the presence of life. The system uses the Terran alphabet, more specifically the Latin alphabet to designate the different planetary classes.

Planetary classes [ ]

• Class A Geothermal ( Gothos )
• Class B Geomorteus ( Mercury )
• Class C Geoinactive ( Psi 2000 )
• Class D Asteroid/Moon ( Luna )
• Class E Geoplastic ( Excalbia )
• Class F Geometallic ( Janus VI )
• Class G Geocrystaline ( Delta Vega )
• Class H Desert ( Rigel XII )
• Class I Gas Supergiant ( Q'tahL )
• Class J Gas Giant ( Jupiter )
• Class K Adaptable ( Mars )
• Class L Marginal ( Indri VIII )
• Class M Terrestrial ( Earth )
• Class N Reducing ( Venus )
• Class O Pelagic ( Argo )
• Class P Glaciated ( Breen )
• Class Q Variable ( Genesis Planet )
• Class R Rogue ( Dakala )
• Class S and T Ultragiants
• Class X , Y and Z Demon ( Tholian homeworld (Class Y))

External links [ ]

• Planetary classification article at Memory Alpha , the canon Star Trek wiki.
• Planetary classification article at Memory Beta , the non-canon Star Trek wiki.

Star Trek: Star Charts

Star Trek: Star Charts was announced in April 2002 . [1]

• 1.1.1 Spectral classification
• 1.1.2 Planetary classification
• 2 Background information
• 3.1 See also
• 3.2 External link

Summary [ ]

Contents [ ], spectral classification [ ], planetary classification [ ], background information [ ].

Star Trek: Star Charts was written and illustrated by Geoffrey Mandel , with the help of Doug Drexler , Tim Earls , Larry Nemecek , and Christian Rühl (see below). André Bormanis , Michael Okuda , Rick Sternbach , and Timo Saloniemi gave technical advice. Mandel and Sternbach also worked on the original 1980 Star Trek Maps ; Nemecek contributed items to that older work – the Federation members, and a planet/star pairing list, among others – that survived his earlier, aborted mapping project that was based on the star grid scale of the original Star Fleet Technical Manual . That project, due to be updated with Mandel for self-publication, was abandoned when the Bantam 1980 maps project surfaced.

Appendices [ ]

See also [ ].

• Stellar Cartography: The Starfleet Reference Library
• Star Trek Maps

External link [ ]

• Star Trek Dimension by Christian Rühl, which formed the basis of this book
• 2 Daniels (Crewman)
• 3 USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-G)

Planet is the common designation for a certain type of celestial body orbiting a star. They occurre in a great variety of different compositions, masses, and surface conditions. The exact definition of what constituted a planet varies among cultures.

The final appearance of a planet depends on its formation process, which means where and under what circumstances it formed. Planets can accumulate gigantic atmospheres, exceeding their original size and mass, or they can rest without any atmosphere at all. With a sufficient mass, a planet is able to accumulate so much gas, that it starts to undergo nuclear fusion, turning into a protostar. In this state it begins to emit energy, as its core temperature and density increases. Planets can also be changed to a Class M environment by terraforming.

The Federation has numerous different classifications for planets depending on their mass, composition, surface environment and atmospheric compounds.

Planetary Classification

The Federation classifies planets it cataloges based on criteria such as atmospheric composition, surface temperature, and conditions, the size of the body, and the presence of animal and plant life. This system is used to determine the suitability of the planet for exploration, colonization, and scientific research.

Each class of planet is assigned a letter in the alphabet based on its suitability. For example, Class M (sharing meaning with the Vulcan designation Minshara class) is applied to planets that can support life without any special circumstances, such as Earth, Vulcan, or Cardassia. Planetary Classification List

See the original version at Memory Alpha

Planet Classes

Class A - Gas Supergiant

Planets of this class are usually found in a star's outer or "cold zone". They are typically 140 thousand to 10 million kilometers in diameter and have high core temperatures causing them to radiate heat. Low stellar radiation and high planet gravity enables them to keep a tenuous surface comprised of gaseous hydrogen and hydrogen compounds.

Class B - Gas Giant

Class B Planets are usually found in a star's outer or "cold zone". They are typically 50 thousand to 140 thousand kilometers in diameter and have high core temperatures but do not radiate much heat. Low stellar radiation and high planet gravity enables them to keep a tenuous surface comprised of gaseous hydrogen and hydrogen compounds.

Class C - Reducing

Planets of this class are usually found in a star's "habitable zone". They are typically 10 to 15 thousand kilometers in diameter. They have high surface temperatures due to the "greenhouse effect" caused by their dense atmospheres. The only water found is in vapor form.

Class D - Geo Plastic

Planets of this class are usually found in a star's "habitable zone". They are typically 10,000 to 15,000 kilometers in diameter. They have a molten surface because they have been recently formed. The atmosphere contains many hydrogen compounds and reactive gases. Class D planets eventually cool, becoming Class E.

Class E - Geo Metallic

Planets of this class have a molten core and are usually found in a star's "habitable zone". They are typically 10,000 to 15,000 kilometers in diameter. Their atmospheres still contain hydrogen compounds. They will cool further eventually becoming Class F.

Class F - Geo Crystaline

Class F planets are usually found in a star's "habitable zone". They are typically 10 to 15 thousand kilometers in diameter and have surfaces that are still crystalizing. Their atmospheres still contain some toxic gases. They will cool eventually becoming Class C, M or N.

Class G - Desert

Planets of this class can be found in any of a star's zones. They are typically 8 to 15 thousand kilometers in diameter. Their surfaces are usually hot. Their atmospheres contain heavy gases and metal vapors.

Class H - Geo-Thermal

Planets of this class are usually found in a star's "habitable zone" or "cold zone". They are typically 1,000 to 10,000 kilometers in diameter. They have partially molten surfaces and atmospheres that contain many hydrogen compounds. They cool becoming Class L.

Class I - Asteroid / Moon

Planetary bodies of this class can be found in any of a star's zones. They are usually found in orbit of larger planets or in asteriod fields. They are typically 100 to 1,000 kilometers in diameter. They have no atmospheres. Their surfaces are barren and cratered.

Class J - Geo-Morteus

Planets of this class are found in a star's "hot zone". They are typically 1,000 to 10,000 kilometers in diameter. They have high surface temperatures due to the proximty to the star. Their atmospheres are extremely tenuous with few chemically active gases.

Class K - Adaptable

Planets of this class are usually found in a star's "habitable zone". They are adaptable for humanoid colonization through the use of pressure domes and other life support devices. They are typically 5,000 to 10,000 kilometers in diameter. They have thin atmospheres. Small amounts of water are present.

Class L - Geo-Inactive

Planets of this class are usually found in a star's "habitable zone" or "cold zone". They are typically 1,000 to 10,000 kilometers in diameter. Low solar radiation and minimal internal heat usually result in a frozen atmosphere.

Class M - Terrestrial

Planets of this class are found in a star's "habitable zone". They are typically 10,000 to 15 thousand kilometers in diameter. They have atmospheres that contain oxygen and nitrogen . Water and life-forms are typically abundant. If water covers more than 97% of the surface, then they are considered Class N.

Class N - Pelagic

Class N planets are usually found in a star's "habitable zone". They are typically 10,000 to 15 thousand kilometers in diameter. They have atmospheres that contain oxygen and nitrogen . Water and life-forms are typically abundant. If water covers less than 97% of the surface, then they are considered Class M.

Class S - Near Star

Planets of this class are usually found in a star's "cold zone". They are typically 50 million to 120 million kilometers in diameter and have high core temperatures causing them to radiate heat and light. These are the largest possible planets, because most planetary bodies that reach this size do become stars.

Class T - Gas Ultragiant

Planets of this class are usually found in a star's "cold zone". They are typically 10 to 50 million kilometers in diameter. They have high core temperatures causing them to radiate enough heat to keep water in a liquid state.

Class Y - Demon

Class Y - Demon Planets and planetoids of this class can be found in any of a star's zones. They are typically 10,000 to 15 thousand kilometers in diameter. Atmospheric conditions are often turbulent and saturated with poisonous chemicals and thermionic radiation. Surface temperatures can reach in excess of 500 K.

Starfleet Note: Communication is frequently impossible, and transport may be difficult. Simply entering orbit is a dangerous prospect. No known environment is less hospitable to humanoid life than a Class Y planetary body.

Star Trek’s Planet Classes, Explained

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One of the things that makes Star Trek such a successful science fiction franchise is the immense amount of world building the creators put into the various shows. Things didn’t end with cool-looking alien races. Writers and directors often created entire working socio-political infrastructures, and entire histories for the races. The same is true for the history of Earth and the humans who have evolved into the perfect representations of a utopian future pioneered in the franchise . One such seemingly minor detail was the creation and prolonged use of the planet class system.

Plant classes, or planetary classifications, were a way for the military-like Starfleet (as well as many other exterior space governing bodies) to categorize the various types of planets across the galaxy. The classification would take into account many important factors that made the planet up, including atmosphere, temperature, size, and vegetation. Of course, there was still a massive amount of variation within this, but these factors, as well as some other minor ones, were the most important. These would help give an indication as to what to expect when visiting a new or old world. It’s also important to note that these were specifically designations for planets, rather than moons, comets, or the like. Planets are defined as a body that is not only in orbit around a sun, but is also big enough ( which is why poor Pluto got demoted ). It also has to be round, and have an orbit that is fairly clear from debris.

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The Federation classification system is a simple one, and uses single letters to differentiate the different planets. Other races used the same tick list for their classifications, but often gave them different names. The pointy-eared Vulcans, for example, named the M class planets the ‘Minshara’ class — alternative name, same classification. The list of known classifications are as follows: D, H, J, K, L, M, N, R, T, P, and Y, which unfortunately doesn't make an interesting or memorable acronym.

Of all of these, the most important and frequently used is Class M , which basically denotes any planet that is Earth-like. The atmosphere of an M-Class Planet contains oxygen and usually nucleogenic particles (the thing that was necessary for the production of rain on a planet). Most notably, though, they were home planets that would support human life. The best examples of these plants from the franchise was, of course, Earth, but Vulcan and the Organian home world Organia also fall into this category. Here is where the classifications are shown to be fairly broad. There is a vast difference between the living conditions on Earth versus Vulcan, but still they are both still classified as M-class planets.

Other classes were used for planets that were uninhabitable for most species, for various reasons. Class D denotes an uninhabitable, small planet with no atmosphere. Examples of this include the Weytahn and Regula planets. What was interesting about these planets was that they were often viable candidates for terraforming, which is what happened to Weytahn, converting it from a class D planet to a class M. Class H is a fairly specific, and rarely used class, denoting planets that were uninhabitable by humans but were hospitable for the Sheliak race, one of the few non-humanoid aliens in the franchise. Class J and T planets are types of gas giants.

Class M planets are not the only habitable ones in the universe. Class K worlds were able to support human life, as long as they were using artificial biospheres. They were not naturally habitable, but could be made so with relative ease. Examples of these were Theta VIII and the wonderfully named planet Mudd. Meanwhile, the unusual Class L planets were often relatively habitable for humans, but had a strange dichotomy between flora and fauna. These worldshad a large amount of vegetation, overflowing with greenery, but had either very little or no animal life. It made these worlds oddly barren, despite all appearances, but at the same time relatively safe (discounting poisonous and deadly plants).

​​​​​​​Other planet classes denote hostile or dangerous environments. Class N planets are a rare appearance within the shows, only being mentioned a few times. This class is given to planets with high surface temperatures, and a dense, acidic atmosphere. Here, water only exists as a vapor. In our own solar system, Venus is a prime example of a Class N planet. Class R worlds are somewhat mysterious, as the only canon example is Dakala. This classification is given to ‘rogue’ planets, ones which had somehow broken free of their orbit and managed to travel untethered by a sun through space, like a rogue starship going at warp and crashing into anything in its path.

After the iconic Class M planets, potentially the next most memorable classification is the Class Y worlds. These were aptly given the nickname of ‘Demon’ planets, and are what one might call a typical representation of hell. They are incredibly inhospitable worlds, with massively toxic atmospheres and temperatures of an unimaginable level — 500 degrees Kelvin, to be precise. They are not only dangerous to those who dared set foot on them. They were also dangerous to those just in the vicinity, prone to thermionic radiation discharges that were deadly to those nearby.

Finally, the technically non-canon Class P planets appear on various different star charts for the franchise, but are never specifically discussed in the shows or movies. The only mention is a passing comment that the technologically advanced Breen home world was likely to be a class P. These are glaciated planets, old worlds that are more than 80% ice, with human breathing air composed of oxygen and nitrogen.

That’s all the classifications to date, though with new shows getting added to the franchise constantly, it’s only a matter of time until new classifications sneak up, pretending like they’ve been there the whole time.

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• Movies & TV

Planets in TOS and TOS Remastered - Part 1

by Jörg Hillebrand , Anthony Pascale and Bernd Schneider, with comments from Max Gabl and Mike Okuda

General Notes Talos IV Planet 1 Earth Guardian Planet Planet 2 Planet 3 Sigma Draconis Excalbia Asteroid New in TOS-R Other Celestial Objects

At least one of these planet models (referred to by us as planet 1 ) was surprisingly detailed as we can see on a photo. But like with shots of the Enterprise, the filming techniques and the film transfer of the 1960s didn't allow a better resolution.

It looks like there used to be no more than five distinct planet models that were modified through color overlays to represent different planets. In several cases no changes at all were made, and stock footage served to represent a new planet.

Thanks to CGI, these shortcomings were eventually corrected in the remastered version of Star Trek (TOS-R), produced by CBS Digital from 2006 to 2008. In TOS-R every planet has a distinctive appearance, even though the consequence is that few of them still look as they did in TOS. Overall, the variety of planet surfaces has considerably increased, while the color variations are not as remarkable as in TOS any longer, owing to the use of more natural hues in TOS-R.

Our article has two purposes: It identifies the planet models that can be seen in TOS in the order of their appearance and a couple of other celestial objects, something that has never been done systematically before. All headings and other classifications refer to the TOS versions of the planets. We then contrast these planets with the new ones of TOS-R. Note that we didn't bother to match the perspectives of our TOS and the TOS-R screen caps because in the exactly corresponding shots in the episodes they often don't match either. So we picked TOS screen caps that show identical planets from as many different angles as possible for the sake of diversity, and TOS-R caps that provide a good look at the new planet surface.

Mike Okuda has been a co-producer of TOS-R. Max Gabl created most of the planets and matte paintings for the show. We have been able to gather many comments from the two on what they changed and why.

General Notes

All planets to be re-imagined for TOS-R were specified in a way to comply with existing location and planet set shots before the task was given to the artists.

Max Gabl: "Usually Mike [Okuda] and Dave [Rossi] approached me with the basic concept of the planet. Something like, 'earthlike, with large dark mountain ranges, pink skies, poles, swirly type of clouds, 30 percent oceans.' These preconditions came from the shots in the corresponding episode. If we could see a red sky and a sandy soil, the planet had to look like that from outside too. Aside from these specifications, I enjoyed almost absolute freedom. Naturally, there were also the inevitable last-minute revisions. It was very pleasant to work with Mike Okuda. He is a great artist in his field and a nice person. He created almost all graphics for Star Trek and was the architect of many of the buildings. 'He's got the Star Trek look down to a science'."

Once Max Gabl had the basic parameters of a planet, it was up to him to get its look right.

Max Gabl: "First I was given instructions for the planets, including surface type, cloud type, atmosphere color, percentage of water bodies, special features, etc. Then I asked my own set of questions mostly on scale, light/type preferences, etc. Based on the specifications I received, I could determine the feasibility of the assignment. E.g.: a red atmosphere over a lush, green canopy of plants, as seen from space, would translate into a brownish canopy (also imagine what the red will do to the blue oceans underneath). This could confuse the viewer who just saw a shot filmed on a stage with a lush green forest foreground with a red stage sky behind, not affecting the greens in the shot. The red sky on Gamma Trianguli VI... ...requires a brownish canopy of the planet. Add to the assignment, that the producer wants to see a hint of the tall buildings on the planet from space. How tall would the 1000 feet buildings have to be to be visible from space? 100 miles tall maybe? That would make the planet look small. So at the end it was about what was possible without sacrificing realism, so the viewer could 'live' in the image. I projected the textures onto 3D geometry, which was the fastest solution due to the fact, that painting a sphere from scratch, with the constantly mathematically correct shifting of perspective and falloff, proves to be quite a task, and sometimes weeks of work. A lot of times, I modeled and lit entire scenes in 3D and then painted them over. The average time frame given for the planets though was about 2 days a piece. Along with the 49 planets I created, there were 33 additional 'on the surface' matte paintings and a few nebulas for TOS-R on my list, some purely 2D and some 3D/2D. And there were other shows on the side to be worked on (btw, I was not involved with the outside Enterprise shots). [...] Niel Wray, our vfx supervisor, contributed some excellent 3D buildings (along with his valuable insights and knowledge of course) to some of the surface matte paintings, by the way."

While new planets were not created from scratch, every one of them went through several design steps.

Max Gabl: "I started with templates from NASA that I manipulated until I had something to work with. Then a lot of 'paint from scratch' was added to the mix. When I'm talking of 'paint from scratch', I mean painting with a pen on a graphics table (Wacom Tablet). Many of the initial textures that I created were later modified (repainted, colored, cloned, etc.) and used for new planets. When I had the textures ready, I projected them onto 3D spheres. I also obtained so-called geo-data for the elevations (mountains & valleys) from geological web sites, and I painted over them and otherwise modified them to be used as so-called bump and displacement maps. This is how the 3-dimensional look of my planets was created. It was much work to harmonize the color textures and the displacement maps. The clouds (all of which are painted) consist of so-called alpha channels that I projected on a second, slightly larger half-transparent sphere. This gives us the illusion of a cloud layer hovering above the planet. Finally I painted over the projections ('fine tuning') once again, in order to eliminate the '3D look' and to add some extra details." 

Unlike it was customary in the time of TOS, no footage was simply turned or mirrored to act as a different planet.

Max Gabl: "I recycled textures and displacement maps and rearranged, recolored, repainted them. Mirroring would be too obvious, and a lot of the textures repeat (tile) around the sphere, being obvious too. Most of the times, in TOS-R you see the planets do only a small turning movement..."

The majority of planets of TOS-R was created by CGI artist Max Gabl. The planets not done by him include: M113, Planet Q, Beta III, Organia, Starbase 11 planet (from space), Earth (all appearances), Cestus III, Beta XII-A, Guardian of Forever planet, Amusement Park Planet, Capella IV, Tyree's planet aka Neural, Kelvan, Ekos.

Max Gabl: "Niel Wray [TOS-R VFX supervisor] told me that he used photos of Earth for one or two shots. [...] It looks like some of these planets are based on photos of Earth and of existing planets, blended with textures that are partially derived from my creations. Most of the artists that were working for TOS-R with CBSD are not here any longer. So I can't provide more detailed information on their planets."

The first ever planet visualized for Star Trek is Talos IV in the first pilot movie "The Cage", which later appears in TOS: "The Menagerie, Part II" too. The surface of Talos was created coloring a picture of Earth's Moon and overlaying a cloud pattern. See also at StarTrekHistory.com .

While the Talos-Moon never appeared again as a "live" planet in Star Trek, we can see its picture as set dressing on the Enterprise's bridge in countless TOS and TOS-R episodes.

Planet 1a - brown/red

Planet 1a is characterized by its brown basic color, its rather blurred surface and the elongated cloud stripes that indicate a fast rotation. And really, we can see in brief shots with the Enterprise in orbit that the planet is spinning. Planet 1a begins its life in the second pilot episode, TOS: "Where No Man Has Gone Before". In "The Alternative Factor" Spock says about the planet of that episode: "Iron-silicon base, oxygen-hydrogen atmosphere, largely arid, no discernible life" .

The same planet reappears several times in TOS, predominantly in the first season, twice in the second and just once in the third season. We can mostly see it in composite shots with the Enterprise in space, less frequently on the main bridge viewer. Quite possibly all these later incarnations are stock footage that was already shot for TOS: "Where No Man Has Gone Before". While the brightness, contrast and the exact hue is subject to vary, the brownish color remains essentially the same in all following TOS episodes with Planet 1a.

Planet 1b - blue

This is the very same model as Planet 1a. However, since the script of TOS: "Mudd's Women" called for a windy and cold planet, the available shots of Delta Vega (Planet 1a) were colored bluish for Rigel XII. We can see that the blue color is a modification accomplished by filming the original footage through a blue filter, since the formerly brown/white image has gained an overall blue tint. The bright blue clouds against the very dark blue surface make Planet 1b rather unrealistic. Still, in the blue guise the planet model made a total of six appearances in TOS, five in season 1 and the second appearance as the Starbase 11 planet in "The Menagerie, Part I" in season 2.

Planet 1c - green

The original footage of Planet 1a was modified one more time in the same fashion as with Planet 1b, this time with a green new tint. This green variant Planet 1c appears in two more episodes, giving us a total of 22 appearances of all versions of Planet 1.

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Last modified: 18 Oct 2020

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In the 23rd Century, Captain James T. Kirk and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise explore the galaxy and defend the United Federation of Planets. In the 23rd Century, Captain James T. Kirk and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise explore the galaxy and defend the United Federation of Planets. In the 23rd Century, Captain James T. Kirk and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise explore the galaxy and defend the United Federation of Planets.

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• Trivia Shortly after the cancellation of the series due to low ratings, the staff of the marketing department of NBC confronted the network executives and berated them for canceling this show, which had been one of their most profitable series without anyone realizing it. They explained that although the show was never higher than number fifty-two in the general ratings, when running the numbers though the replacement of the Nielsen rating system, its audience profile had the largest concentration of viewers of ages 18 to 45. In other words, not only did the show have the most sought-after demographic that television advertisers hunger for, it was also one of the most successful series the network had ever aired, and did even better in reruns. This was more than ample justification to contact Gene Roddenberry with a request to revitalize the show. Unfortunately, this turned out impossible, as Paramount had just cleared out their warehouses of most of the sets and props, and rebuilding them would cost around $750,000, so instead, the studio greenlit Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973) . Although Roddenberry wasn't really interested in doing an animated show, he agreed, in the hope that the show would be successful enough to revive the original series (which it unfortunately didn't).
• Goofs The deck locations for Kirk's Quarters, Sickbay and Transporter Room vary (usually between decks 4-7) throughout the series.

Dr. McCoy : "He's dead, Jim."

• Crazy credits On some episodes, the closing credits show a still that is actually from the Star Trek blooper reel. It is a close-up of stunt man Bill Blackburn who played an android in Return to Tomorrow (1968) , removing his latex make up. In the reel, He is shown taking it off, while an off-screen voice says "You wanted show business, you got it!"
• Alternate versions In 2006, CBS went back to the archives and created HD prints of every episode of the show. In addition to the new video transfer, they re-did all of the model shots and some matte paintings using CGI effects, and re-recorded the original theme song to clean it up. These "Enhanced" versions of the episodes aired on syndication and have been released on DVD and Blu-Ray.
• Connections Edited into Ben 10: Secrets (2006)
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